A major in the military intelligence branch of the Colombian army told a court yesterday that manuals seized from FARC guerrillas showed how to make gas-cylinder bombs similar to those first used by the IRA in Northern Ireland.
Maj Carlos Eduardo Matiz was the first prosecution witness called in the trial of three Irishmen charged with training FARC rebels in explosives techniques and with using false passports on a visit to Colombia.
James Monaghan (56), Martin McCauley (40) and Niall Connolly (36) were arrested at El Dorado Airport in the Colombian capital, Bogota, on August 11th, 2001.
The three accused men refused to appear as the court began its first hearing of evidence from both sides in Bogota yesterday.
When asked by lawyers for the prosecution, if he had any direct knowledge of the IRA training the FARC, the major replied: "As their modus operandi is similar to the IRA's, it could be said that it was the IRA that gave them the gas-cylinder system."
This method was first used in Northern Ireland and not in Colombia.
Maj Matiz told the court he had received no pressure, advice or offers in relation to his testimony.
He had been a paratrooper, then moved to military intelligence where he served as a senior officer and was currently on study leave at a military college. He knew the accused men had been arrested by the military police on charges of training "FARC bandits".
He produced photocopies of two explosives manuals in Spanish which were found in the hands of the FARC's "South Bloc".
The manuals were seized from the FARC during military operations by Brigade No 12 of the Colombian army. He did not know the precise circumstances in which the manuals were obtained.
He said the manuals were "similar to an English book", a photocopy of which the major also presented to the court although he did not give the title.
He said the methods, particularly the use of gas cylinders and other unconventional mechanisms employed by FARC were "quite similar" to those used by the Irish Republican Army.
Based on studies and conferences, he knew the IRA used gas cylinders as explosive mechanisms "and fragments of pieces from oil pipelines".
The IRA used manure, trash and garbage in these mechanisms, he added. The FARC were the first to use such mechanisms in Colombia.
Describing the three accused men as "members of the IRA", he said he had no knowledge of other visits by IRA personnel. The incentive for the IRA to export its technology was the increased "respect they will gain from the international community".
Asked by the judge, Mr Jairo Acosta, to outline the IRA's ideology, he replied: "They are a terrorist group with a Catholic ideology and their main goal is to place bombs and make terror attacks on \ state institutions, aimed at imposing their ideology."
He did not know the structure of the IRA.
Maj Matiz said the FARC had started off with ambushes on Colombian army patrols but had been gradually changing from the early 1990s to the use of gas cylinders. Mortar grenades had been used in an attack last August 7th.
These mortar grenades and gas cylinders were in the manuals he had presented to the court, which also contained instructions on bomb-making from fertiliser and the construction of incendiary devices.
He believed the manuals could not have been prepared by anyone who did not have a high knowledge of explosives.