Mr Justice Michael MacGrath said he is satisfied that there is a real risk of interference with witnesses if Mr Treanor is granted bail.

In his action, 41 year-old Alan Harte challenges the constitutionality of Section 40 of the 1939 Offences Against the State Act.

Murray was sentenced to nine years in prison, with the final 18 months suspended.

Two notices of appeal were filed just days after sentencing.

Presiding Judge of the Special Criminal Court, Mr Justice Tony Hunt, said he was reserving life sentences for those who organised or financed the crimes.

Over 70 year jail term handed down to the three accused

The judge said the thefts had been carried out by what gardaí believed to be a cross-border gang based in east Monaghan and south Armagh.

The judge said the court had placed the crime at the lower end of the middle spectrum of offending.