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McKEVIITT & SANDS QUIZZED BY GARDAI IN REAL IRA PROBE
By NICOLA TALLANT

Republican couple held after swoop on house
GARDAI were last night questioning renegade republican couple Mickey McKevitt and Bernadette Sands as part of an investigation into terrorist activity.
McKevitt is suspected of being one of the leaders of the Real IRA, the group blamed for the Omagh bomb which killed 29 people in 1998.
The pair and two others were arrested near Dundalk in a Garda operation against suspected members of dissident republican gangs.
All four were being held under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, meaning they can remain in custody for up to 72 hours with no charges being brought.
Detectives were last night searching the McKevitts' seaside home.
National Bureau of Criminal Investigation officers were involved in the early-morning raids on several homes in the Dundalk area.
Police sources last night said the couple have been arrested under suspicion of being members of the Real IRA.
A file is expected to be sent to the DPP.
One source said: "These people have been under surveillance for some time and we moved in to arrest them this morning.
"A search of the house was also conducted." Gardai burst into the McKevitts' home shortly after 7am.
Mickey McKevitt, 51, was taken from the house first and his wife Bernadette was allowed 35 minutes to get herself dressed and ready before she was also taken into custody.
McKevitt is the leader of the 32 County Sovereignty Committee - the political wing of the Real IRA.
He is suspected of being a former quartermaster-general of the Provisional IRA.
His wife is the sister if IRA hunger-striker Bobby Sands, who died in the Maze Jail in 1981.
The Real IRA were formed by a group of hardliners within in the Provisional IRA
Around 70 experienced activists broke away in November 1997, objecting to the ceasefire that had been arranged by Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams.
The Real IRA have stepped up their bombing campaign recently and earlier this month targeted the BBC headquarters in London.
The bomb attack on the BBC is believed to have been masterminded by the same man suspected of planning the Omagh bomb. Detectives also believe that a terrorist sent to England to assemble the device was the same skilled bombmaker whose work devastated the Docklands in London in 1996.
So far Colm Murphy, 48, from Co Armagh, is the only person to face charges in connection with the Omagh bombing.
He is currently on £100,000 bail awaiting trial in Dublin for conspiracy to cause an explosion and being in an illegal organisation.
Married father-of-two Liam Campbell, 38, who was recently named in a BBC Panorama documentary about the Omagh atrocity, is facing a charge of being a member of the IRA.