RUC 'knew about Colombian mission by IRA men'
From David Sharrock in Bogotá
October 16 2002, 1:00am, The Times
POLICE in Northern Ireland knew the IRA was training Colombian guerrillas up to two years before three republicans were arrested in Colombia.
However, they feared that President Clinton's Administration could have imperilled their investigation in order to save the peace process.
The trial of the three Irishmen charged with teaching Farc, Colombia's largest Marxist guerrilla group, how to build bombs, begins today.
The Times has learnt that the Royal Ulster Constabulary's Special Branch knew that as many as 15 IRA members were involved in visits to the Farc-controlled jungle zone in southern Colombia and RUC officers were monitoring the situation.
A senior Special Branch source said that their experience in the case of three IRA gunrunners arrested in Miami in 1999 had made them wary…