Sinn Féin today accused British Intelligence of hyping up the arrests of three Irishmen in Colombia to stall moves towards demilitarisation in Northern Ireland.
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Mr Niall Connolly, Mr James Monaghan and Mr Martin McCauley were arrested in Bogota on Saturday
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Newry and Armagh Assembly member Mr Conor Murphy said accounts of events in Colombia were unravelling daily.
"On Monday they talked about these people out dealing with drugs and that proved to be bunkum. On Tuesday they talked about some video evidence and we have yet to see any of that.
"There was an attempt to try and sell one of these people as Sinn Féin's representative in Cuba which has proved to be rubbish," he said.
Mr Murphy denied the arrests were a political setback for Sinn Féin.
The three are being questioned on suspicion of training local FARC rebels in the use of explosives and weapons. Colombian investigators will decide within five days whether to prosecute the men or not.
"The people who are spinning that story are the very people who are justifying their presence and their very existence in places like this [Northern Ireland]," Mr Murphy said.
He labelled the British government's proposals on demilitarisation released two weeks ago in the Anglo-Irish Way Forward document as a "pathetic joke".
Despite the withdrawal of the IRA's offer to begin a process of decommissioning and the latest revelations in Colombia, Mr Murphy said republicans were no threat to the peace process.