France holds three 'Eta suspects'

French police have arrested three suspected Basque separatist militants in an Alpine ski resort, officials say.

The men were reportedly armed and had false identity papers. Police arrested them in a raid on an apartment in Le Corbier Villarembert on Wednesday.

One suspect, named as Alberto Machain Beraza, is thought to be linked to recent Eta bombings, including an attack in Majorca, Spanish media say.

Eta claimed responsibility for the bombings in Spain in July, carried out just ahead of the 50th anniversary of the group's founding.

More than 40 people were injured by a bomb blast in Burgos, northern Spain, then two Civil Guards were killed by a car bomb on the holiday island of Majorca.

The militant group is fighting for the creation of an independent Basque homeland.

The other two suspects arrested at the resort in France's Savoie region were Aitzol Etxaburu and Andoni Sarasola, according to Spanish security sources quoted by the Efe news agency.

They are suspected of belonging to Eta's military wing, responsible for providing arms and explosives for attacks in Spain.

Police reportedly burst in while they were asleep and they offered no resistance.

Alberto Machain Beraza was among six Eta suspects on a wanted list released by the Spanish government after the July bombings.

The three men were found in possession of handguns, false paper and documents of the organization.

At the end of several months of investigation, three alleged members of ETA were stopped Wednesday morning in Corbier Villarembert, in Savoy. The three suspects were found in possession of four handguns, forty detonators, many electro-electronic elements being able to enter the manufacture of fusing, of false paper and from documentation in quantity, one learned from source close to the investigation.

At the same time, in the same business, a hiding place containing 4 barrels of 25 liters ammonium nitrate, was discovered in Ferrières, a locality of the Hautes-Pyrénées, one specified of the same source.

A score of men of the RAID and the research brigade and of intervention of the DIPJ of Lyon challenged them with 6:00 of the morning in a small apartment of the Savoyard village. The three suspects, probably surprised in their sleep, did not have time to oppose resistance.

Alberto Machain Beraza

Suppliers of weapons for the commandos

Among these three men, Alberto Machain Beraza, one of the six terrorists of the organization the most sought by Spain, indicate the Spanish daily newspaper El Pais. The two other suspects name Beraza Aitzol Etxaburu and Andoni Sarasola.Tous three are suspected of belonging to the military apparatus of ETA, and thus of having provided weapons and explosives for several attacks.

Alberto Machain Beraza, specifies El Pais, is regarded as one of the possible authors of the last perpetrated attacks at the end of July by the organization, in Burgos (Spain) and Calvia (Balearic Islands), which caused the death of two civil guards and made tens of casualties.<

Close co-operation between France and Spain

These arrests are the fruit of a co-operation between Spain and France. A source close to the investigation indeed indicated that the subdirectorate anti-terrorist (SDAT), the Central management of the French judicial police, the general delegation with information (DGI) and the dedicated services Spanish worked in concert on this business.

“It is about the direct result of a close co-operation between the Spanish and French authorities consequently of the agreements (of police co-operation, note) which were acts between president Sarkozy and the Zapatero Prime Minister”, commented on Wednesday the Minister of Interior Department Brice Hortefeux, in margin of a displacement in Canet-in-Roussillon (the Eastern Pyrenees). The minister indicated that it would receive on August 26 his Spanish counterpart Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba.

The arrests of activists supposed of the Eta are relatively frequent in France. Last July, three alleged members of the separatist organization - two men and a woman - had been intercepted close to Pau (Yrénées-Atlantiques).

Source, Le Figaro

Translated by Babblefish. I'm surprised to see Babblefish put forth a decent translation .

I was once associated with a major contract proposal that was being offered to the Spanish government. The French were our main competition. Of course, industry in France is quasi-owned by the government so the French government was lobbying HARD. The Spanish wanted our product and just before they were to pull the trigger, the French said that they just might be able to locate and arrest some of the ETA terrorists they had said they couldnt find after all. Well, that is if the Spanish selected their product they might.

This says a few things. First, the French under Jaques Chirac were without moral compass. They were harboring terrrorists and using them as bargaining chips. It is good to see that this policy no longer appears to stand. Second, the Spanish at the time had some serious fortitude to stand up and refuse to be extorted. Capturing and dismantling ETA is a very serious issue to the Spanish.

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