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11 taken in for questioning in southwest France |
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September 18, 2000
BAYONNE (AP) - Eleven people, including a half-dozen suspected members of a Basque separatist group, were taken in for questioning Saturday night during a large-scale sweep by French police. Six of those arrested are suspected of belonging to the militant wing of the group ETA, which has been fighting for an independent homeland in northern Spain. The other five are suspected of lodging the ETA suspects at their homes in France's own Basque region in the southwest. In addition, French police in the southwestern city of Bayonne said they found two large weapons caches and uncovered a small weapons factory that belonged to ETA. Both caches, which included dynamite and detonators, were found on farms in the southwestern Landes region. The factory was found not far away, in the small town of Sare. Among those arrested Saturday were six Spaniards: Juan Angel Otxoantesana-Badiola, Ignacio Santesteban-Goikoetxea, Angel Pikabea-Ugalde, Maria del Rosario Delgado-Iriondo, Jesus Maria Zabala-Muguirra et Jose Luis Turrillas-Aranceta, authorities said. Spanish Interior Minister Jaime Mayor Oreja said Sunday the arrests caused "almost irreparable damage" to ETA because the suspects play key roles in the group's forgery and logistical operations.
"This is the expertise that allows them to put bombs in vehicles," Mayor Oreja told Spanish media. Of all the police actions against ETA's logistical wing, Mayor Oreja called the arrests "the most significant" since 1996. "It will be hard to replace these people with so much experience in the area of logistics and electronics," he said. French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin issued a statement praising Interior Minister Daniel Vaillant and law enforcement authorities for the arrests. "The government has reaffirmed its determination to fight against all forms of terrorism and to cooperate fully with the Spanish authorities," the statement said. The operation comes just a day after the arrest of Jose Ignacio Gracia Arregui in the French town of Bidart. Spanish authorities consider him the leader of the military wing of the ETA and suspect him of ordering a 1995 assassination attempt against King Juan Carlos of Spain. ETA has claimed the deaths of nearly 800 people since 1968 in its campaign for Basque independence. It ended a 14-month truce last December and has since been blamed for 12 killings, eight of them since June. The group, whose name stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom, has mostly targeted security force members, but in recent years has begun killing members of both the Popular Party and the Socialist opposition, both of whom oppose Basque independence. (parf-ps) |
