'NEW PROOF' LINKS IRA TO DRUG TERROR

New evidence has been uncovered to link the Provisional IRA with a
terrorist group involved in the Colombian drugs trade, according to a
leading figure in the United States Congress.

Democrat William Delahunt, who heads the congressional investigation into
the role of the IRA in Colombia, has also revealed that the CIA is to be
asked to give evidence about the republicans' connection with Farc, the
Marxist guerrilla group involved in producing cocaine and heroin.

Three Irishmen - two of them convicted IRA members, the other a Sinn Fein
activist - were arrested in Bogotá while trying to leave Colombia on 11 August.

The Colombian authorities allege the trio were training with Farc guerrillas.

Delahunt has confirmed that his inquiry has unearthed fresh details about
the IRA's presence in Colombia and its relations with Farc. 'There is new
information but I cannot at this stage disclose exactly what this is
because that would prejudice the inquiry,' he said in Washington.

His committee would ask the CIA to appear before it in April. 'I would be
surprised if they did not have information for us,' he said.

Delahunt denied that committee members had come under pressure from the US
State Department or the Irish government not to hold the inquiry in public
and allow it to be televised.

Delahunt confirmed he travelled to Cuba last month where he sought
information on the role of Niall Connolly, one of the republican trio.

'The Cuban government expanded on their original statement and told me that
he was Sinn Fein's delegate to the Cuban Communist Party. They said he had
been in Cuba for up to six years, that he married a Cuban woman and that he
left for Ireland between April and May this year.'

Delahunt is due to travel to Colombia in March to talk to the government
about the allegations of weapons training and development involving the IRA
and Farc.

He said the congressional hearing would offer Sinn Fein's representatives
in North America a chance to put their side of the story.

The Observer has learnt that the Colombian authorities now believe one of
the Irishmen is an expert in armour-piercing technology and was sharing his
knowledge with both Farc and the Basque terror group, Eta.

The three include James Monaghan, an IRA veteran who invented the
Provisionals' mortar in the Seventies.

Monaghan was arrested with another convicted IRA man, Martin McCauley, who
served a prison sentence for possessing illegal weapons. The other Irishman
arrested is Niall Connolly, a Sinn Fein member.

The three were moved last week from La Picota jail in Bogotá to a military
police station after allegations that their lives were in danger. A loaded
pistol had been found in the cell next to theirs.

A campaign has been launched in Ireland to have them repatriated. The Bring
Them Home committee's supporters include singer Christy Moore, the former
Beirut hostage Brian Keenan and a BBC Northern Ireland drama producer, Pam
Brighton.

The Irish government, however, is reluctant to upset the Bush
administration - which recently gave $1 billion to fund Colombia's fight
against Farc and the drugs trade - by asking for the men's release.