3 arrested in Colombia; link with IRA is alleged

By Stephen McKinley

As the IRA withdrew its most recent offer on arms decommissioning, the arrest of three Irishmen in Colombia threatened to throw the peace process into further confusion.

The three, named by Colombian officials as David Bracken, James Monaghan and Martin McCauley, were arrested Monday inside Bogot_’s El Dorado Airport, and authorities there claimed that the three had traces of explosives and drugs on their hands and clothes.

The three were apparently returning from a demilitarized zone in Colombia that is controlled by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country’s largest guerrilla group, since 1998.

The Colombian army commandeer, Commander-General Jorge Enrique Mora, announced that Northern Irish police had confirmed that the three were members of the IRA, and the Irish Times reported that the Garda was also helping Colombian authorities with the investigation of the three men, who were said to have been traveling on fake British and Irish passports.

If the three are indeed members of the IRA, there would seem to be implications for the peace process in the North. Though it is not known what the nature of their visit to Colombia was, Mora told the BBC that forensic tests carried out in Bogota on the men’s clothes and luggage showed that they had been handling explosives and drugs.

“They belong to the engineering department of the IRA, those who make the bombs, the explosives and the custom-made weapons,” Mora said, adding, “forensic tests were carried out after their capture and they showed they’d been handling explosives, cocaine and amphetamines.”

Reacting to the news, Ulster Unionist deputy leader John Taylor said that it proved that the UUP’s stance on last week’s IRA statement on decommissioning had been correct. “This shows you what the IRA are up to,” he said.

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams is believed to have a three-week lecture trip planned to South America later this month.