London: A suspected member of the armed Basque group ETA has been detained in London on an extradition warrant, the fourth to be arrested in Britain in recent months.
Kemen Uranga Artola, 43, was captured by police in the Kentish Town district of north London, where he is thought to have been living, and was scheduled to later appear at a court hearing.
Police said that Uranga, who was included on a US treasury list of designated terrorists in 2002, is wanted by Spain on suspicion of terrorism offenses.
Spain's Interior Ministry said in a statement that the National Court in Madrid had issued a European arrest warrant for Uranga in 2001 on charges of collaborating with armed group ETA.
The ministry said he stored explosives and provided lodging for members of an ETA cell that carried out several killings. It said that he fled Spain in 2000 after police dismantled that cell.
ETA, which stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom, is classified as a terrorist group by the European Union, the Unites States and Spain.
The separatist group is blamed for the killings of more than 825 people in a campaign for an independent Basque state. It announced a definitive cease-fire last year but Spain insists it must lay down its arms and dissolve.
Scotland Yard said that the arrest had no connection to the London Olympics.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, August 08, 2012, 23:15