Spain urged to free IRA bomb suspect

Republicans tonight urged Spanish authorities to free a suspected IRA bomber wanted in Germany over a plot to blow up a British military base.

Leonard “Bap” Hardy, 44, was arrested at a hotel in the resort of Torremolinos.

He is being sought by German authorities over his suspected role in the strike on Quebec barracks, Osnabruck, in June 1989.

Five bombs were planted at the base, only for the attack to be foiled by a workman who spotted the devices.

Hardy, originally from north Belfast and married to prominent republican Donna Maguire, is believed to have been in Spain for some time.

He is also reportedly wanted for questioning about a 1982 bomb attack in Banbridge, Co Down, that killed an 11-year-old boy.

Spanish police swooped on him yesterday at the Hotel Sol Principe where he was staying.

Frauke-Katrin Scheuten, a lawyer in the German Federal Court, confirmed: “Leonard Joseph H. was arrested in Torremolinos, Spain, on August 17 on foot of an arrest warrant issued by an investigating judge in the Federal Court.

“The accused is suspected of being involved in the Provisional IRA bomb attack on the Quebec Barracks of the British Rhine Army in Osnabruck on June 19, 1989.

“The four accomplices of the accused were already sentenced to several years in jail by the State Court in Celle in 1995.”

Scotland Yard was also involved in the arrest which came after a surveillance operation lasting days, according to reports.

Hardy is expected to be taken to Madrid pending an extradition case.

But Arthur Morgan of Sinn Féin insisted he should not be held.

The Louth TD said: “This man has lived openly in Ireland for many years with his family.

“Reports indicate that he has been arrested in Spain whilst on holiday on the foot of an extradition warrant from Germany which relates to matters over a decade ago.

“It is my firm view this man should be released and allowed to return home to his family in Ireland without any further delay.”

The attack on Osnabruck was one in a series carried out by the IRA on British soldiers in Germany during the 1980s and 1990s.

Seven years later the same base was mortar bombed, but no-one was injured.

With on-the-run IRA fugitives expected to be granted an amnesty as part of the peace deal surrounding the Provisionals’ pledge to end their armed struggle, police in Northern Ireland were in no rush to intervene in the Hardy case.

“It would be better for us if we didn’t get involved,” a security source said.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland confirmed moves had been made to bring him in for questioning.

A spokeswoman added: “We have been made aware that an international warrant has been effected in Spain by the German authorities in relation to a person from Northern Ireland.

“We will be monitoring the situation.”

The Irish Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs said it was aware of the arrest. A spokesman added that officials at the Madrid embassy would be making inquiries.