National
More details known of the plans of ETA Vizcaya commando
By h.b.
Jul 25, 2008 - 7:59 AM

More details have been released about the plans of the ETA Vizcaya commando which was broken up by the authorities in Spain on Tuesday.

It seems the group of Basque terrorists planed to carry out a kidnapping of a Socialist politician, as they had dramatically done with Miguel Ángel Blanco, and the attack was set for the end of last year, but was postponed as bodyguards were put back on duty to protect members of the Basque Socialist Party PSE.

Reports say they had been following the movements of the local politicians four months after the collapse of the ETA cease fire, and they wanted to force the government back to the negotiating table by the kidnapping.

The Guardia Civil are now searching an ETA laboratory which has been found in a flat in Ezcaray as two ETA hides have been found in La Rioja. The first in Valgañón contained explosives and also tranquilisers to be used during kidnappings, and the second found in Santo Domingo de la Calzada contained 125 kilos of explosives.

Meanwhile we now also know that ETA ordered that information be compiled a year ago on the National Court judge, Fernando Grande-Marlaska ahead of a possible attack against him. The judge has a home in the same Ezcaray urbanisation as the parents of one of those arrested on Tuesday. Despite the order to assemble information, no formal attack on the judge had yet been planned.

A search has been taking place in the early hours of today of a flat in Getxo owned by a man who fled after the ETA arrests last Tuesday. The five hour search resulted in three large boxes of diverse material being taken away by the authorities.