Tax fugitives arrested

A US couple in their 60s who had barricaded themselves in their house for several months armed with guns and explosives to avoid being jailed for tax evasion have been arrested, officials said.

New Hampshire couple Ed and Elaine Brown, who reportedly stopped paying tax in 1996 and rejected the Government's right to collect taxes, were convicted in January and shortly afterwards locked themselves in their rural home.

The stand-off began in earnest in April, when they were sentenced in absentia to more than five years in jail and they threatened that there would be a bloody outcome if law enforcement officers tried to enter their home.

In the end, two US marshals managed to sneak into the home through the front door, posing as supporters who have been providing the elderly couple with weapons, food and supplies since the stand-off began.

"They invited us in and we escorted them out," marshal Stephen Monier told reporters in New Hampshire, explaining how officials first arrested the pair and then swept the property for guns and explosives.

"During that sweep we discovered a large number of improvised explosive devices both inside the residence and out," Mr Monier told reporters, adding that authorities also found a large number of weapons and ammunition.

The couple were believed to have avoided paying some $US1.9 million in taxes owed mostly through Elaine Brown's dental practice.

"We will not be arrested. We will not volunteer to go into their prison for a non-crime. We have committed no crimes. We either walk out of here free or we die," Elaine Brown had told reporters earlier in the stand-off.