IRA suspects moved from prison

Prison officials in Colombia have said that three Irishmen being held in the main prison in the capital Bogotá have been moved for their own safety.

Lawyers for the three men say they have been moved to another jail run by the local police, because of threats against their lives by right-wing paramilitary suspects also held in La Modelo prison.

The three Irishmen, Niall Terence Connolly, Martin McCauley and James Monaghan, are accused of being senior IRA members and of training FARC guerrillas in tactics and the use of explosives.

They were arrested in an airport in Bogotá on 11 August and were imprisoned under Colombian law to await trial. Following concerns about their safety they were transferred to a cell in Colombia's judicial police headquarters early on Sunday September 9.

The move comes days after a right-wing paramilitary prisoner was killed in the infamous La Modelo prison. In July it was also the scene of a full-scale battle between guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries allied with drug traffickers. Ten inmates died and 22 others were injured as the two sides battled it out with grenades and automatic weapons.

Prison officials have denied that the men were attacked or that there is a plot against them.

A prison spokesman said the three men would be held at police headquarters until “renovations were made at La Modelo to improve security”. (AMcE)