ETA chiefs arrested

A JOINT venture between French and Spanish police has seen the arrest of David Pla and Iratxe Sorzabal, two of the main leaders of the Basque terrorist group ETA on September 22.

The arrest was carried out at a rural property in the town of Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry, in the southwestern Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of France.

A Spanish Interior Ministry release referred to the arrest of “two members of the ETA terrorist organisation who had fled justice.” It went on to add that investigations were still ongoing, leading to speculation that additional members of ETA were being sought.

The two were said to have taken part in negotiations relating to the dissolution of the group, but failed to reach an agreement and together with Izaskun Lesaka, announced in 2011 an end to the terrorist organisation’s 40-year campaign of violence.

This success follows arrests earlier this month of a number of people accused of praising terrorism following a July tribute to Lucia Urigoitia who died in a shoot-out with police in 1987.