<P> To continue and escalate their armed campaign, the IRA needed to be better equipped, which meant securing modern small arms . In previous campaigns weapons had been secured before hostilities commenced via raids on British Army and even Irish Army weapons depots . In the 1969--1971 period this was no longer feasible . By 1972, the IRA had large quantities of modern small arms, particularly Armalite rifles, manufactured and purchased in the United States . The AR - 18 rifle in particular was found to be very well suited to the Provisionals' purposes as its small size and folding stock meant that it was easy to conceal . Moreover, it was capable of rapid fire and fired a high velocity round which provided great "stopping power". </P> <P> The IRA's main gun runner in the US was George Harrison, an IRA veteran, resident in New York since 1938 . Harrison bought guns for the IRA from a Corsican arms dealer named George de Meo, who had connections in organised crime . Joe Cahill acted as the contact between NORAID and Harrison . In 1971, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) had already seized 700 modern weapons from the IRA, including 2 tonnes of high explosive and 157,000 rounds of ammunition, most of which were of US manufacture . </P> <P> Harrison spent an estimated US $1 million in the 1970s purchasing over 2,500 guns for the IRA . According to Brendan Hughes, an IRA member who later became Officer Commanding of the IRA inside Long Kesh prison, the IRA smuggled small arms from the United States by sea on Queen Elizabeth 2 from New York via Southampton, through Irish members of her crew, until the network was cracked down on by the FBI in the 1980s . These Queen Elizabeth 2 shipments included M16, CAR - 15, AR - 18 and AR - 15 Armalite rifles, accompanied by Browning pistols and Smith & Wesson pistols and revolvers and were driven from Southampton to Belfast in small consignments . </P> <P> In the late 1970s, another IRA member, Gabriel Megahey, was sent to the United States to acquire more arms and he was able to procure more AR - 15 Armalites, plus a number of Heckler & Koch rifles and other weapons . Again, the purchase of these weapons was funded by Irish American republicans . A batch of M60 machine guns was imported in 1977 . </P>

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