one-third of the total Libyan arms consignment being carried aboard the MV Eksund was intercepted by the French Navy while the ship was in the Bay of Biscay, along with five crew members, among them Gabriel Cleary. The vessel was found to contain 120 tonnes of weapons, including HMGs, 36 RPGs, 1000 detonators, 20 SAMs, Semtex, 82mm mortars, 106mm cannons and 1,000,000 rounds of ammunition. Also, reportedly of tank shells were found, which could be adapted into explosive devices. Despite the seizure of the Eksund arms, the IRA was by then equipped with a quantity and quality of weaponry and explosives never available to it at any other phase of its history. Furthermore, according to Brendan O'Brien there was actually an 'over-supply', especially regarding the 600 AK-47s still in the hands of the IRA by 1992. The Garda Síochána (the Police Service of the Republic of Ireland) uncovered numerous arms destined for the IRA in 1988. These included several hundred AK-47s, Russian DSHK HMGs, FN MAG machine guns and Semtex. By 1996, Jane's Intelligence Review reported that "it is believed that the bulk of the material presently in IRA arsenals was shipped from Libya in the mid-1980s with the aid of a skipper, Adrian Hopkins, hired for the purpose by the IRA." Compensation claims On 31 October 2009, a cross-party delegation of Northern Irish politicians travelled to the Libyan capital Tripoli for the first face to face meeting with Libyan government ministers to discuss compensation claims for victims of IRA violence. Other arms sources As well as these major sources of arms, the IRA also bought weapons from various arms dealers in continental Europe. In the 1970s, some guns were purchased by Dáithí Ó Conaill in Czechoslovakia and in the 1980s, Belgian FN FNC rifles were obtained, probably smuggled through the Netherlands. Supporters based in Canada also supplied a bunch of arms to the IRA although not big in comparison to other parties. There was contact between the IRA and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and specifically the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, starting from the mid-1970s which included the training of IRA volunteers. At one stage, the PLO offered weapons and training to the IRA, but it declined on the grounds that it was impossible to smuggle arms out of the Levant region in general and Palestine specifically without alerting Israeli intelligence. Tim Pat Coogan wrote that