Alleged IRA member 'approached terrorists'
One of the alleged IRA members facing bomb-making charges in Colombia also offered to work for a right-wing paramilitary group, it was claimed today.
A letter signed by Carlos Castano, of the right-wing United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia, or AUC, appeared on the group’s web site today claiming one of the three men had approached the AUC offering ‘‘his professional services’’.
Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and Jim Monaghan have been accused of using illegal documentation and training Marxist paramilitaries.
They face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
The letter posted on the AUC site said: ‘‘The country should know that arms dealers and cheap terrorists from east and west write and frequently come to visit anyone who offers them a few dollars.
‘‘One of the arrested men has written repeatedly to our web site offering us his professional services and proposing regular and irregular business, in his words.’’
The letter did not specify which one allegedly offered to do business with the AUC.
Prosecutors announced on Tuesday that they were opening a criminal investigation against the three men, ruling out - for now - the possibility that they would be deported.
The trio can be held for eight months before they must be officially charged or released, but authorities have warned the men face 20 years imprisonment if found guilty.
They had been travelling on false British and Irish passports when they were arrested as they prepared to board a flight to Paris on August 11.
The first charge relates to this.
Much more seriously, however, is the second charge of training for illegal activities.
This relates to allegations the men were pooling knowledge with FARC.
The move gives prosecutors 240 days to prepare a case against the men or decide to release them without charge.
They are suspected of having spent five weeks in the rebel group’s safe haven training its members in urban terrorism, which would allow it to extend its 37-year rebellion from the countryside into cities.
Columbian security forces claimed traces of explosives and cocaine had been found on the three men’s clothing after their arrest at Bogota airport.
A spokeswoman for the Fiscal General De La Nacion, Colombia’s equivalent of director of public prosecutions, said: ‘‘The process of investigation is beginning and they are officially under suspicion.’’
Sinn Fein chairman Mitchel McLaughlin said he understood the three men had admitted the false passport charges but this was not confirmed by the authorities.
Their arrest has rocked the peace process in Northern Ireland, as well as the Colombian Government’s attempt to end FARC’s rebellion.
