Long campaign bears fruit for three

THE three Irishman were arrested in August 2001 as they prepared to board a plane back to Ireland after spending some time in the rebel FARC-controlled area of Colombia.

They were arrested on suspicion of travelling under false documents, and later the charge was put to them that they helped trained the left wing movement in the use of mortars.

It soon emerged that two of the three, Martin McCauley and James Monaghan, had been members of the IRA. The third, Niall Connolly, from a well-known south Dublin family, was described as the Cuban-based South American representative of Sinn Fein, though this was initially denied by the party.