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Reputed IRA commander arrested after long hunt

He's charged with tax evasion in the millions and then let go on bail.

DUBLIN, Ireland - The Irish Republican Army's reputed commander emerged from his life in the shadows Thursday, appearing in court for the first time to be charged with massive tax evasion.

Irish police and prosecutors - stymied for decades in their efforts to put the alleged terror mastermind and fuel smuggler Thomas "Slab" Murphy behind bars - are now using the same approach that U.S. authorities took to nail Al Capone: following the money trail.

Murphy, 58, had been lying low since British and Irish authorities raided his border-straddling farm in March 2006 and found a vast fuel-smuggling operation that included several tanker trucks, an underground pipeline, cash and checks in bags, and laptops hidden in hay bales. They suspected he escaped at that time using a tunnel underneath the property.

On Wednesday night, detectives from the police's antiracketeering squad caught Murphy as he was being driven away from a Gaelic football game. Police and doctors said he feigned illness to go to a local hospital and stall for time. But early Thursday he was charged with nine counts of failing to make tax returns.

Prosecutors argued against granting Murphy bail, noting that the alleged tax evasion involved $3.7-million. He could face heavy fines and a possible prison sentence if convicted.

But Murphy's lawyer, Paul Tiernan, said his client was a bachelor farmer of good character with no previous convictions.

The judge accepted $102,500 in sureties from the Murphy family.

The judge ordered Murphy to surrender his Irish passport, report daily to police, and to appear in court Wednesday.

The IRA killed about 1,775 people during its failed 1970-1997 campaign to force Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom.

Histories of the IRA have identified Murphy as an IRA weapons smuggler who helped procure supplies by traveling to Libya using false passports. Libya supplied the IRA with more than 100 tons of weaponry, chiefly in the mid 1980s.

IN OTHER NEWS

Officer is shot

An off-duty police officer in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, was shot and wounded Thursday after he dropped off one of his children at school. Catholic and Protestant politicians blamed IRA dissidents, but no group claimed responsibility. The officer was reported in serious but stable condition. Sinn Fein deputy leader Martin McGuinness - the city's former IRA commander who helps lead a Catholic-Protestant administration in Northern Ireland - appealed to the public to turn in the attackers.

[Last modified November 9, 2007, 02:15:00]