Madrid: The presumed military chief of the armed Basque separatist organisation ETA was arrested Sunday in northwest France, the Spanish interior ministry announced.
Ibon Gogeascoechea Arronategui, 54, who was arrested during a joint Spanish and French operation, was the "most senior" member of ETA, the ministry said in a statement.
He was picked up in Cahan, a village in Normandy, along with two other people.
Beinat Aguinalde Ugartemendia, 26, is suspected of assassinating socialist politician Isaias Carrasco days before legislative elections in March 2008, and businessman Ignacio Uria Mendizabal, who was shot dead in December 2008.
Gregorio Jimenez Morales, 55, is a presumed member of an ETA commando unit which allegedly transports equipment for carrying out attacks, including for the plan to assassinate in 2001 the then head of the Spanish government, Jose Maria Aznar.
Police searched the Cahan lodging and the suspects` vehicle, seizing three weapons, documents and computer equipment.
ETA is blamed for nearly 830 deaths in its 41-year armed struggle for independence for the Basque region of northern Spain and southwest France.
It is considered a terrorist organisation by the European Union and United States.
Several members of the separatist outfit, mainly members of its armed wing, have been arrested in France in recent years.
In November 2008 police arrested the then military chief of the organisation, Garikoitz Aspiazu, and captured his successors Aitzol Iriondo in December 2008 and Jurdan Martitegui in April 2009.
Bureau Report
