Police investigating the murder of SAS officer Captain Robert Nairac in Northern Ireland more than 30 years ago arrested a man in South Armagh today.
The suspect, aged 57, was detained by officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland serious crime branch and has been taken for questioning in Antrim.
Captain Nairac was abducted by the IRA in Jonesborough Co Armagh in May 1977, taken across the border and shot. His body has never been recovered.
Captain Nairac was working under cover for the British Intelligence services at the time he was abducted from the Three Steps pub in Drumintree, south Armagh.
He had been in the pub singing songs. But suspicions were raised that it was a British military intelligence officer on the stage and he was grabbed by a gang outside. He was interrogated for several hours but he refused to break.
At one stage one of the men holding him posed as a Catholic priest in a bid to coax a confession.
The IRA never made any comment about what happened to Capt Nairac's body, despite pleas from his family. Six people - five from the North and one from the south of the Border - were convicted for their part in the killing.
The DUP's Ian Paisley Jnr said today: “This is a very interesting development and I welcome it.
“I look forward to the wheels of justice eventually producing justice. I just hope the police have sufficient evidence to take a prosecution and that is sufficient to get a result.”
He said he hoped Captain Nairac’s body might be found, adding “that would be good for the family”.