ETA prisoner tries to escape disguised as lawyer

28 May 2004

PARIS – A suspected ETA terrorist attempted to escape from jail by trying to pass himself off as a lawyer, legal sources said Friday.

Igor Letona Viteri was detained by security officers in La Sante prison dressed in a suit and with a false security pass Thursday.

He used the fake security pass to get through one security control, but was stopped at a second control.

Viteri had asked guards if he could go the laundry to change his clothes as they were dirty.

He appears to have changed into a suit hidden in a large bag, which had been brought into the prison building by another visitor, posing as a lawyer.

The security services in the prison said the escape attempt “would never have worked”.

Viteri had been in the maximum security area of the jail.

Prison authorities said the punishment would not be harsh as the prisoner had not used violence.

In August 2002, ETA suspect Ismael Berasategui escaped from the same prison passing himself off as his brother, José Antonio.

The situation was not discovered until, five days later, the real José Antonio Berasategui, revealed what had happened.

Prison authorities tightened security after the embarrassing break-out.

Ismael Berasategui was captured five months later.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news