Alleged former IRA leader Thomas "Slab" Murphy was arrested and charged with tax offences last night following an operation involving Criminal Assets Bureau officers and specialist gardaí.
Murphy (58) was charged with several offences under tax legislation for failing to file tax returns between 1996 and 2004, it is understood.
Sources reported last night that Murphy had been taken to hospital suffering chest pains. In a brief statement issued late last night, gardaí said that a man "in his fifties" had been arrested in the Dundalk area, was detained at Drogheda Garda station and will appear at a sitting of the District Court in Ardee at 10am today.
Murphy owns a farm on the Louth-Armagh border that was searched in 2006 as part of an investigation by the North's revenue police. He is reputed to have built up a fortune of between £35-40 million from money laundering and smuggling.
Murphy has been under security force surveillance for years but never convicted of anything.
He is a pivotal figure in the republican movement who has been long associated with the Provisional IRA and was at one stage believed to be the chief of staff of the terrorist organisation.
Murphy is a reclusive figure who has rarely been photographed and vigorously defends his reputation. He once fought - and lost - a protracted libel action against the Sunday Times. He had objected to the newspaper describing him as a leading IRA member.
In a statement in 2006, Murphy denied charges that he was involved in smuggling and tax evasion: "I do not own any property and, in fact, I had to sell my own home some years ago to cover legal fees following an unsuccessful libel case.
"Those opposed to the peace process are obviously hoping that in vilifying me personally and republicanism in general they will scupper attempts to build peace. They will not succeed."