A suspected member of the IRA is facing extradition from the Czech Republic to Germany on charges connected to the bombing of a British army base at Osnabruck in June 1996.
Mr Michael Dickson was arrested at Prague's Ruzyne International Airport last month by Czech alien and border police after arriving on a flight from Dublin.
Police officials said they arrested him on foot of an international arrest warrant issued by a court in Karlsruhe on the urging of the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), Germany's federal police.
"We arrested Dickson acting on an arrest warrant issued by the Prague City Court, which in turn had been acting on an international warrant issued in Germany with the assistance of Interpol," said a Czech alien and border police source.
According to the source, Mr Dickson arrived in Prague on a flight using his own name and passport, thereby leading to his identification on police computers linked to a database of internationally-wanted individuals.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday it was aware of the case and Mr Dickson was receiving the appropriate consular assistance.
Mr Dickson (38), a former British Army officer of Scottish origin, became a naturalised Irish citizen some years ago, and is believed to have been living in the Republic until recently. Since his arrest on December 6th, he has been held at Prague's Pankrac prison under maximum security conditions.
German authorities have filed for his extradition to that country on charges connected with the IRA bombing of the Osnabruck army base. Nobody was hurt in the attack in which three mortars were fired from a van parked outside the base. Only one of the mortars exploded.
Within days of the bombing, German police issued an arrest warrant for Mr Dickson who they accused of being the leader of the IRA cell which allegedly carried out the attack. Their efforts to extradite other suspects have been fraught with difficulty.
In 1997, the Belfast actor Mr James Anthony Corry was released from Portlaoise Prison in controversial circumstances after the Government said it was not allowed to extradite an Irish citizen to Germany because of that state's refusal to operate reciprocal extradition arrangements.
In the same year, the British authorities came under fire from Amnesty International and other human rights organisations for detaining, in connection with the same bombing, Ms Róisín McAliskey in high-security conditions while she was pregnant.
Mr Dickson has protested to the Czech authorities about his detention but a request to have him freed last month was turned down in a Czech court.
British authorities may also seek Mr Dickson's extradition, although British embassy officials in Prague refused to be drawn on this question. They did, however, acknowledge they were aware Mr Dickson was being held in custody.
Czech security officials have in recent months been closely monitoring suspected IRA activities in the Czech Republic and neighbouring Slovakia.