Spain says arms cache belonged to ETA

14 August 2007

MADRID – Spanish security officials said on Tuesday that an arms cache discovered by French police belonged to the logistics chief of the armed Basque separatist group ETA, according to news reports.

French police on Monday found chemicals that could be used to make explosives, dozens of detonators, two mines and several firearms, including two automatic pistols in a rented garage in the resort city of Biarritz, judicial officials said.

The two mines were ready to be used, the officials said.

Spanish security forces said that up to 100 kilograms of explosives and 174 detonators were found, along with fuses and timing devices.

Police also found license plates and documents with ETA markings.

According to the news reports, the garage was rented by ETA logistics chief Juan Cruz Maiza who passed the cache to José Antonio Aranibar who was in charge of distributing weapons and explosives to ETA members. Both men were arrested last month.

The garage’s owner alerted police after he opened the garage having not received word from the renters.

ETA called off a 15-month-old cease-fire in June, blaming the Spanish government for a failed peace process and saying it was once again becoming “active on all fronts.”
 
The armed group has used the Basque region of France over recent years as a safe haven.

ETA has killed more than 800 people since 1968 in its bid to carve an independent Basque state from parts of northeast Spain and southwest France.

(Copyright AP with Expatica)

                       Subject: Spanish News