In today’s Sunday Times newspaper, here in UK:
Photos Link More IRA Men to Columbia
New photographic evidence linking senior IRA operatives to the training of terrorists in Columbia has been revealed by an American enquiry.
Pictures believed to have been taken by the Columbian immigration authorities and passed to the Americans show two Irishmen using false identities to enter the South American country.
One is said to be Padraic Wilson, the IRA’s former commander in the Maze prison, who was closely involved in setting up the decommissioning process. Wilson, caught building a Semtex booby-trap bomb in 1991, was released early under the 1998 Good Friday agreement. He is close to Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein leader, and was the first leading IRA figure publicly to back decommisioning. If he is proved to have been in Columbia, it could further harm the peace process.
The Columbians say 15 IRA terrorists helped in the training between 1998 and 2001. Seven have been identified and are to be questioned by garda in the Irish Republic.
Much of the evidence against the men came from a Farc defector. he said he recieved explosives training from McCauley, Monaghan and Connolloy in the former Farc-controlled demilitarised zone, which is about the size of Wales. The defector said the men trained him in making bombs and mines. They were detected when the Columbian military intercepted a Farc radio transmission in which a leading Columbian guerrilla was advised to take advantage of training opportunities offered by the trio. some of the Irishmen were said to have joined in a Farc attack on the Columbian city of Cali.
