ETA suspect arrested in France

BAYONNE, France -- French police have arrested a suspected member of the Basque separatist group ETA.

Jose Luis Michelena Berasarte, a suspected logistics specialist for the group, and a female companion, were detained at his home in the French border town of Hendaye, judicial sources said.

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Berasarte is suspected of running a network of agents who smuggle arms and other materials across the border to Spain, where five deaths have been linked to the group in the last month.

The pair were then taken to the Bayonne police headquarters for questioning on what is Berasarte's 52nd birthday.

Earlier this month, suspected ETA members stole 1.6 tonnes of explosives from a warehouse near Grenoble in eastern France.

Police believe some of this may have been used in a car bomb attack that killed a policeman in northern Spain on March 18.

ETA, whose name means Basque Homeland and Freedom in the Basque language, has been blamed for 800 killings in its 33-year fight for an independent state straddling the French-Spanish border.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Basque Country and Government
Spanish Interior Ministry

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