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Three Brazilians, who were arrested by gardaí in Co Offaly last May when they were on their way to threaten an individual with a machine gun and a sawed-off shotgun, have received prison terms totaling 12 years.
All three defendants pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of a firearm, a pps43 9mm machine gun and a 20-gauge double-barreled sawed off shotgun.
They also pleaded guilty to possessing ammunition and violating Covid-19 health regulations by failing to restrict their movements and leaving their place of residence without a reasonable excuse.
In a session of the Offaly Circuit Criminal Court in Mullingar, Judge Keenan Johnson described the three men as neither professional hitmen nor experienced criminals.
He said that Jefferson Dos Santos, Iidomar Cabrar Da Silva and Henrique Rodrigues had been out of reach using a machine gun that was of very poor quality and can only fire one bullet at a time.
The judge said they had cartridges that were not suitable for the sawed-off shotgun, that they were out of ammunition, and they did not know exactly where they were going as they were lost twice.
He sentenced Da Silva to eight years in prison, with a three-year suspension.
Dos Santos was sentenced to seven years in prison with a three-year suspension.
Rodrigues will serve three years of a six-year sentence with three suspended.
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