| http://www.sbpost.ie/sbpost/story.jsp?story=WCContent;id-23887
Colombia: CIA played major role By Barry O'Kelly Dublin , Ireland, 19 August, 2001 The American Central Intelligence Agency played a prominent role in the investig-ation into three Irishmen being held on suspicion of training Colombian guerrillas, Garda Special Branch sources have told The Sunday Business Post. Detectives said they were largely unaware of the activities of the three men who visited the Farc guerrillas until they were contacted by overseas intelligence sources. "It was mainly a CIA job," said one officer. The evidence against the three men, Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and James Monaghan, is in question. It was confirmed yesterday that no traces of any drugs have been found on the men -- contrary to earlier claims by the Colombian military. The Colombian government prosecutor's office also confirmed that the three did not make any confessions and that there was no video evidence against them. It is believed that at least one of the men was wearing his own clothes during the police line-up footage this week. This would seem to suggest that he, at least, was not suspected of having traces of explosives on his clothes. Two of the men, Martin McCauley (37) and Jim Monaghan (56), have criminal convictions and were said by Special Branch officers to be "Provos" who were presumed to be inactive until they appeared in Colombia. The third man, Niall Connolly (36), was listed by gardai as a "Sinn Fein activist", a relatively lowly status in garda terms. However, republican sources say he was never a member of Sinn Fein and was never arrested or questioned by the Garda. Senior gardai say that, contrary to media reports, Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne did not refer to the three men as "known members of the Provisional IRA". Sources said that Monaghan was under daily surveillance until June when he left his job with Tar Isteach, a job creation club for ex-prisoners based in Dominick Street, Dublin, when he flew to Colombia. Fas said this weekend that Monaghan was a project leader and the agency had contributed �21,000 towards his wages under a scheme established under the Good Friday Agreement. |
