'IRA suspects' held in Colombia

The three captured men were shown to the media

Police in Colombia say three IRA suspects arrested in the country may have been training rebels in the use of explosives.

Police named two of the men as James Monaghan and Martin McCauley, both of whom it is thought have been previously convicted in Britain of terrorist charges and membership of the Provisional IRA.

The identity of the third man has not been established, though he was travelling under the name of David Bracken.

It is not clear if the three men are being linked to either the Provisional IRA or the dissident Real IRA.

Two of the men were travelling on British passports, the other was holding an Irish passport.

False passports

If it emerges that they are linked to the Provisional IRA, it could have implications for the Northern Ireland peace process and the lengthy negotiations about IRA arms decommissioning.

They were presented to the media at a press conference in Colombia's capital of Bogota.

Security forces were unable to arrest the men for five weeks because they were in a safe haven agreed by the Colombian government and the revolutionary paramilitary group the FARC.

The men were detained as they left the area controlled by FARC.

Police said Mr Bracken is alleged to be the leader of the group, and was the only one of the three who spoke Spanish.

Sir Reg Empey, the senior Ulster Unionist negotiator and trade and enterprise minister in the powersharing executive, said if the men were members of the Provisional IRA then the republican commitment to the Belfast Agreement would be "seriously, if not fatally undermined".

The three men are being held for questioning in Bogota.

Arsenal of weapons

The arrests were made by a specialist investigative branch of the Colombian Police, known as the Fiscalia, at the weekend.

The Colombian military said they believed that the men had been instructing the FARC in explosives and terrorist tactics.

The FARC controls 40% of the countryside and is involved in drug-running.

It is feared that the FARC may want to take its fight, which has been mainly confined to the countryside, into the city.

The BBC's correspondent in Colombia said it was understood that forensic examination of the men's clothing and luggage had shown traces of explosives.

He said that the Attorney General's Office had intonated that the three could face charges of entering the country with false papers and training an illegal army in terrorism.

The latter carries tough penalties in Colombia.

The Colombian authorities have liased with the RUC on fingerprint and photographic data.

Peter Robinson, deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, said he had been alerted to the development by British intelligence sources.