Colombia 'determined to secure Irishmen’s extradition'

The Colombian government has said it is determined to secure the extradition of the three Irishmen convicted of training anti-government rebels in the South American country.

Colombian Vice-President Franciso Santos said yesterday that his government would pursue the extradition "to the last day of the last possible appeal".

Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and Jim Monaghan have been on the run from Colombian justice since being jailed for 17 years each for training Marxist rebels in bomb-making techniques.

They returned to Ireland in recent months and were interviewed by the Gardaí last week before being released without charge.

Legal experts have already predicted the men will never be extradited to Colombia because of the lack of an extradition treaty and the country's poor human rights record.