IRA suspect to be extradited to Germany

A former British soldier is to be extradited from the Czech Republic to Germany for questioning about terrorism charges.

Michael Dickson, a suspected IRA member, is being held in a Prague prison. He is wanted in Germany in connection with a mortar attack on a British base there.

Justice Minister Pavel Rychetsky approved the extradition, but no date was set, spokesman Milan Voracek said today.

Dickson, who has been on the run since 1996, is a suspect in the IRA shelling of the British army base in Osnabruck, north-west Germany, on June 28 of that year.

The IRA fired three home-made mortar shells onto the Quebec Barracks, causing material damage but no injuries. Dickson had once served in an engineering unit at the base.

The 38-year-old, from Greenock in Scotland, was detained in Prague on December 6 on an international warrant.

A Prague appeals court earlier this month upheld a lower court’s ruling that allowed Dickson’s extradition. The justice minister’s decision is final.

Northern Ireland police have said Dickson also is a suspect in the 1996 bombing of the British army’s Northern Ireland headquarters, and in the 1999 shooting of a former IRA member, Martin McGartland.

McGartland, who survived the attack, was a former police spy within the IRA.