Fallen Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi funded dissident Republicans in Northern Ireland just before his regime collapsed.

A television documentary to be screened in Britain claims a Libyan government courier flew into London in June with $2million in cash destined for the Real IRA.

Gaddafi was a well known supporter of the Provisional IRA during the Troubles when he supplied the Republican paramilitary group with funds and arms.

This latest development marked a resumption after several years of Gaddafi’s involvement in Irish affairs.

The cash was destined for an Ulster businessman believed to be a supporter of the dissident Republican groups responsible for recent attacks on police in Northern Ireland.

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The documentary, entitled Exposure, says that Colonel Gaddafi sent large quantities of weapons to the IRA at the height of the Troubles in the 70s.

More recently he wanted to fund the Real IRA and their likes in retaliation for Britain’s support for efforts to overthrow his regime in Libya.

British security sources told the programme that Gaddafi sent the cash in June at a time when NATO was bombing Tripoli and half of Libya was under rebel control.

A suitcase was packed with dollar bills in Malta and the courier sent to London where he ‘went to ground’ in a property owned by the Gaddafi family in the suburb of Knightsbridge.

An MI6 source told the programme: “Security forces fear that the dissidents are growing and gaining support - and that new cash from Gaddafi would help them restock with more weapons.”

Gaddafi first shipped arms to Ireland in 1972 following visits from then IRA chief of staff Joe Cahill.

Hundreds of rocket-propelled grenades, rifles, explosives and heavy machine-guns were dispatched by Colonel Gaddafi who funded terrorist groups across the world.