Spanish government speaks of the significane of latest ETA arrests in France

Spanish government speaks of the significane of latest ETA arrests in France
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By h.b. - May 22, 2008 - 7:38 AM

The ex Mayor of Andoain, José Antonio Barandiarán - Photo EFE

Four leading members of the Basque terrorist group and two others have been arrested following the raid on a flat in Bordeaux.

The Spanish Interior Minister, Alfredo Pérez-Rubalcaba has held a press conference on the latest ETA arrests which took place in a joint Spanish/French police operation in Bordeaux on Tuesday night.

Finally a total of six people, all considered to be ETA terrorists and supporters were detained, including the ex Mayor of Andoain, José Antonio Barandiarán. He described that arrest as relevant saying that the investigation, which remains open, would show why with time.

Rubalcaba’s comments, speaking from the Spanish embassy in Senegal, come in line with earlier remarks from the Prime Minister. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero called for support from society following what he described as ‘the hardest set back’ ever given to ETA.

The Interior Minister said it was thought that those members of ETA now arrested had ordered the latest terrorist attacks, and that the man considered to be the head of the terrorists, Francisco Javier López Peña, known as Thierry, was not just another arrest because he is, in all probability, the man who has most political and military weight in the terrorist group.

In addition to the four terrorists arrested in the flat in Bordeaux, and the ex Mayor of Andoain, a sixth person, a Frenchman, was also arrested for his links to the terrorists’ flat.

Spanish and French police have meanwhile been carrying out a detailed search of the Bordeaux flat in a process which took some 16 hours to complete. The Civil Guard think the flat was used as a transit point for the movement of ETA activists. Spain’s National Court has asked the French judiciary to extradite those arrested.

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