Armed ETA suspect arrested in Paris

Armed ETA suspect arrested in Paris
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By m.p. - May 25, 2009 - 4:46 PM

EFE

He has been named as Iker Esparza, who was sentenced to five years for a 1998 Molotov cocktail attack on a train

A man arrested in the centre of Paris in the early hours of Monday has been confirmed to be Iker Esparza, an ETA terrorist who was sentenced to five years in 2002 for throwing Molotov cocktails at a train stationed in Ventas de Irún three years earlier.

Esparza was armed at the time of his arrest and was driving a stolen vehicle with false number plates. He is reported to have tried to escape officers when he was pulled over and asked to identify himself. He was carrying false documentation as well as his own documents, and French officers also found a pen-drive, the contents of which have not been revealed to the press, however. There are some reports indicating that he was drunk at the time of his detention.

The news of Esparza’s arrest came on the same day that the Basque newspaper ‘Gara’ published an interview with two ETA leaders, where the terrorist organisation admits that their aim of independence for the Basque Country is blocked. They say they are now undergoing a process of reflexion for an ‘effective armed political strategy’ to achieve their aims.

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