Portugal police find 'Eta bomb-making cache'

Portuguese police have seized half a tonne of explosives at a house that they say was being used as a base by Basque separatist group Eta. The discovery, which also included bomb-making equipment, was made in the central Portugal town of Obidos. Fake licence plates, detonators and maps were also found, officials said. A militant group fighting for an independent Basque homeland, Eta has been blamed for more than 820 deaths during its campaign in Spain. "The material was stored in secure conditions which indicates the work of professionals," local police chief Helder Barros said. Several of the explosives were ready to be used, he added. The cache was found after the two occupants of a van fled when officers from the National Republican Guard, which patrols rural Portugal, tried to flag it down outside the town, a popular tourist destination. Last month two Eta suspects fled into Portugal before being arrested by local police. The BBC's Alison Roberts, in Lisbon, says that the discovery appears to confirm what many have suspected for some time - that Eta is using sites in Portugal to prepare attacks in Spain. Our correspondent says that the relentless pursuit of the group by security forces in both Spain and France may have forced it across the border into Portugal.

Off Thread Topic:

http://www.the-news.net/cgi-bin/article.pl?id=1047-2

“US President to visit Portugal this year”
6/2/2010

President Barack Obama, is to visit Portugal this year alongside other international heads of state in November to participate in the NATO summit which will be held for the first time in Portugal.

Even though the summit will only take place nine months from now, on November 19th and 20th, high-level security measures are already being organised for the dignitaries’ visit.

Around 28 member states of the Atlantic Alliance will be in Portugal for the summit.

The exact location for the meeting has not yet been revealed, though it will reportedly be a ‘public space in which road and air traffic can be controlled’.

The dignitaries’ aircraft are expected to land at Lisbon’s main Portela airport, though some may leave Portugal from the Figo Maduro airport.”

Photos:

http://www.elpais.com/fotografia/espana/Etarras/elpdiaesp/20100206elpepunac_9/Ies/

http://www.elpais.com/fotografia/espana/arsenal/elpdiaesp/20100206elpepunac_10/Ies/

http://www.elpais.com/fotografia/espana/Detonacion/elpdiaesp/20100206elpepunac_8/Ies/

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http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/ETA/guardaba/Portugal/mayor/arsenal/encontrado/anos/elpepuesp/20100206elpepunac_5/Tes

2 de 15 en España anterior siguiente

“ETA guardaba en Portugal el mayor arsenal encontrado en diez años
La Policía lusa busca a los dos inquilinos de la vivienda, identificados como Andoni Zengotitabengoa y Oier Gómez Mielgo”
EL PAÍS - Lisboa / Madrid - 06/02/2010

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http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en

Google Translation

“ETA kept in Portugal’s greatest arsenal found in ten years
Lsl Police searching for the two tenants of the apartment, identified as Andoni Zengotitabengoa and Oier
Gomez Mielgo “
COUNTRY - Lisbon / Madrid - 06/02/2010

SNIPPET: “The National Republican Guard (GNR) Portuguese had seized half a ton of
explosives in the house of Obidos, 125 kilometers north of Lisbon, which served as an arsenal to ETA, as
reported sources for combating terrorism. This is the largest arsenal seized in the last ten years and the
largest found outside France. “

SNIPPET: “The explosive arsenal that had the band consisted of 1,330 kilos of ammonium nitrate distributed
twelve o’clock drums, 75 kilos of potassium nitrate divided into three bags, 40 liters of sulfuric acid and other
amounts of PETN, aluminum powder and nitromethane. Also Keep four detonators, several
Portuguese license plates, and various tools for making bombs.

Among the materials seized were two laptops, several maps of Portugal and Spain
registrations that are being discussed at present, as well as other maps of Cadiz, Madrid and the area
northern Portugal without any annotation. Police also analyzes three mobile phones with the
Inscriptions “Madrid”, “Portugal” and “Cadiz” and a box with the words “World”, which the Ministry of
Interior correspond to a type of telephone charges. “

Portugal suspects ETA moving in

There's a video at the link.

Police in Portugal are investigating whether an arms cache discovered in a holiday villa may be evidence of a terrorist launch base being set up.

When the villa’s owner signalled that her tenants had abandoned the property, weapons and explosives were found. Suspicions centred on the Basque armed separatist group ETA. This was in Óbidos, a tourist resort some 100km north of the capital Lisbon.

Two suspected members of ETA were arrested across the border in Spain last month, found to have been carrying explosives, weapons, false number plates and forged documents.

In a bloody campaign for an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain over four decades, ETA has murdered more than 800 people.

The group is on the European Union and US blacklists of organisations considered as terrorists.

Photo of home:

http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=73164&L=en
http://www.tolerance.ca/image/photo_1265502783187-2-0_73164_G.jpg

Photo caption:

“Police technicians inspect a villa in Obidos, 100 km north of Lisbon. Police in Portugal found nearly 1.5 tonnes of bomb-making materials in a house used by suspected militants from armed Basque separatist group ETA, Spain’s interior ministry said Saturday. (image: AFP - Carlos Barroso)”

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