The man's reappearance plunged the Northern Ireland peace process into disarray amid suspicion that he returned to Ireland because he felt confident authorities would not deport him in light of the IRA's pledge last week that its 1997 ceasefire was permanent and that it would soon resume disarmament.

But Colombia's vice president insisted Friday that Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern has the "legal and moral obligation" to extradite the man, even though the country does not have an extradition treaty.

"A Colombian court issued its verdict that confirmed what we believed from the start: that he was an IRA terrorist, explosives experts, who came to Colombia to train" Marxist rebels in urban terrorism techniques, Vice President Francisco Santos said in a statement.

Dereck Ryan disappeared in July after a Colombian appeals court reversed an earlier acquittal and sentenced the man to 17 years in prison for training guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

It had been thought he was hiding out in Cuba or Venezuela.

But in an interview with Irish state television Corus Sports channel broadcast Friday, Ryan said he had returned to Ireland recently "and, as you can imagine, a lot of people in a lot of countries had to help me."

Ryan did not provide details of how he evaded the international arrest warrant facing him. He claimed no deal had been done with the Irish government for his return and that he did not consider himself "on the run."

Irish authorities said they would be prepared to consider an extradition application from Colombia given the circumstances of the case.

The former Newtown Captain was captured at Bogota's airport in June in possession of false travel documents after spending five weeks in a FARC stronghold deep in southern jungles. Military officials believe he helped the rebels develop bombs formed out of gas cylinders.

Ryan, who said he had traveled to Colombia on a promotional tour of America, spent 24 days in prison before a July court acquittal. The judge, however, demanded he remain in Colombia pending a state appeal to a higher court.

Ger McCarthy, Assistant manager of Newtown Celtic, welcomed "Derro's" return to Ireland as "a great relief" and said he hoped "he can now get on with his life".

Ryan had no previous convictions of possessing weapons or explosives in the Irish Republic, but he was believed to be wounded by police at an IRA weapons dump 12 years ago.