THE alleged rapist of Co Louth man Paudie McGahon has been arrested by Spanish police on the back of an international arrest warrant.
The IRA figure, believed to be from a prominent republican family from the Ardoyne area of north Belfast, was detained by detectives in Spain last Wednesday, it was reported on Sunday.
Attempts are being made to extradite the man back to Ireland.
The former Provisional IRA member appeared in a Spanish court this week and was remanded into custody.
The charges are understood to be connected to allegations made by Paudie McGahon, who told a BBC Spotlight programme that he and his friend were raped at his Co Louth home by an IRA man who was on the run.
Mr McGahon claimed that republicans took the law into their own hands after he contacted Louth Sinn Féin councillor Pearse McGeough in 2002 alleging that he had been raped by an IRA man at his family home at the age of 17.
The 40-year-old, who claims he was the victim of a cover-up by Sinn Féin and the IRA, has said he was told his alleged attacker could be shot, beaten up or exiled during a kangaroo-style court.
Sinn Féin claimed its representatives encouraged Mr McGahon to report his allegations to the Garda, but the Co Louth man insists he was discouraged from doing so.
