JUDGMENT has been reserved in the non-jury trial of a west Belfast man accused of possessing Semtex, guns and bullets.
Kevin Nolan was arrested at his partner's address in England in September 2015 after 651 grams of the explosive was found in his parents' Ballymurphy home.
The trial of the 47-year old, from Stewartstown Road, was opened last month and resumed today.
While Nolan's legal team told Judge Patricia Smyth the case was "characterised by an absence of evidence", a Crown barrister claimed his version of events was a "total fabrication".
Belfast Crown Court heard that the Semtex was discovered wrapped in cling film along with a Baikai gas pistol and a revolver, two improvised detonators and more than 300 bullets during a police search on September 17 2015.
When a second bedroom was searched, a black balaclava was located along with a large plastic tub containing more rounds of ammunition.
Crown prosecutor Michael Chambers said Nolan's DNA was found on the inside of the balaclava as well as on the grip of the pistol.
He was arrested in Sunderland three days later.
While Nolan chose not to give evidence at the trial, in a statement read to police during interviews he claimed that he had seen two men in the City Cemetery leave a plastic bag in a hedge and he had brought it to his parents' house.
"I suspected the males were hiding money or drugs in the hedge and my intention was to steal the money or drugs for my own personal gain," he said.
Nolan claimed that when he opened the bag he was "shocked" to discover the guns and bullets, adding he thought the Semtex was in fact cannabis resin.
The Belfast man said he hid the items, claiming he panicked and was in fear for his life.
He then went to his partner's house in Sunderland, but said he was aware dissident republicans in Belfast were looking for items taken from a graveyard.
This version of events was branded a "total fabrication" and "utterly incredulous" by the Crown.
Mr Chambers said it would have taken Nolan a few seconds to open the bag and realise that instead of drugs and money, it contained weapons and explosives.
He also pointed out that it was Nolan's own admission that he planned to come back to Northern Ireland and "give this deadly arsenal over to dissident republican terrorists".
He initially faced seven charges, included possessing 651g of Semtex and two improvised electric detonators, both with intent to endanger life, and also in suspicious circumstances.
The west Belfast man admitted possessing firearms and ammunition on dates between May 1 and September 18 2015 in suspicious circumstances.
Defence barrister Eilis MacDermott told the court this rendered a second charge - possessing the weapons without a firearms certificate - obsolete.
She asked Judge Smyth not to draw inference from Nolan's failure to give evidence, saying there were "issues that he did not want to talk about" - including the identities of the two men who he said left the bag in the cemetery.
The barrister also said there was no criminal record and no evidence suggesting Nolan was a member of or supported any organisation that used violence, firearms or explosives.
She said it was the accused's case that he left for Sunderland in June 2015 and was therefore "not in control" of the items for a three-month period.
Judge Smyth released Nolan on continuing bail as she considers her judgment.
