Irish police last night arrested a former leading member of the IRA who was convicted in his absence in Belfast of murdering an SAS officer.
Belfast man Angelo Fusco was held at a checkpoint near Tralee, County Kerry, where he is believed to have been living for some time.
He was jailed for life for the 1980 murder of Captain Herbert Westmacott, the most high-ranking member of the SAS to be killed in Northern Ireland.
Captain Westmacott was shot dead by the IRA with an M-60 machine gun while leading an eight-man patrol in north Belfast during a raid on a house.
Fusco was among a number of men later arrested and charged with the killing. But the day before the end of their 1981 trial the accused men escaped from the court in Belfast's Crumlin Road.
More than two years ago Fusco was arrested in the Irish Republic and served with a warrant for his extradition to Northern Ireland in connection with the murder conviction. But he then absconded while appealing in the Irish High Court against the order for his return to Belfast.
Speculation last night indicated the Irish police had arrested Fusco as part of continuing moves by them to clamp down on the activities of hardline republican paramilitaries pledged to wreck the Northern Ireland peace process.
A number of one-time top IRA personnel are believed to have linked up with terrorist factions like the Real IRA - the group responsible for the 1998 mass murder bomb attack on Omagh, County Tyrone and the Continuity IRA.
In recent months Irish anti-terrorist detectives have made a number of arrests of suspect members of both organisations.
Fusco was detained under the terms of Irish anti-terror legislation that permits police to question suspects for up to 72 hours before they have to be either charged or released.
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