Three ‘Irish Republican dissidents’ held in Slovakia

Britain is to seek the extradition of three alleged Irish Republican dissidents arrested in Slovakia.

The Northern Ireland Office tonight confirmed the request following the arrest of the unnamed trio.

A spokeswoman said: ‘‘We are aware of the fact that three individuals have been arrested in Slovakia on the expectation of an extradition application from the UK.

‘‘It is our policy not to discuss individual cases and we cannot confirm whether an application for extradition has been or will be made.’’

The UK has an extradition agreement with Slovakia so it is hoped that the three will soon be on British soil.

It is believed they were detained after a surveillance operation involving Slovakian authorities and a number of other Eastern European states.

Movements of dissident republicans have been under close scrutiny following a series of bomb attacks in Britain and Northern Ireland.

There have been attacks on the offices of the BBC in London, on the headquarters of MI6 and on a number of postal centres by the so-called Real IRA, the terrorists who bombed Omagh in August 1998, killing 29 people.

Security chiefs in Belfast, London and Dublin believe the dissidents have been preparing to launch a fresh offensive after a series of failed attacks throughout Northern Ireland.

In the past, Real IRA weapons seized in the Irish Republic have been traced back to the Balkan states of eastern Europe.

Ulster Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson tonight welcomed the capture of the three suspects, describing it as a ‘‘carefully coordinated operation’’.

‘‘I first raised this issue in Parliament a number of months ago and provided evidence to the Government of an arms smuggling operation involving senior members of the Real IRA and gun-runners from the former Yugoslavia,’’ he said.

‘‘I’m pleased that the security forces have acted to close in on these republican terrorists and hopefully their action will prevent further arms being imported to Northern Ireland.’’

The Lagan Valley MP, who will be part of his party’s talks team at the negotiations in Shropshire next week, said it was further evidence of the need for the decommissioning of all terrorist weapons.