Suspected ETA member arrested in Northern Ireland

Fermin Villa Michelena, 40, was arrested in Belfast on Thursday night, under a European arrest warrant, in connection with several car bombings in Madrid.

Spokesman for the Police Service of Nothern Ireland (PSNI) said that, “the joint operation between the PSNI Serious Crime Branch and Spanish police operated under terrorism legislation.”  Michelena was taken to the Antrim Serious Crime Suite for questioning.

The Spanish interior ministry said that Michelena was the subject of three arrest warrants and he was part of the ‘Madrid Command’ in 2001 that was linked to four car bombs, one of which killed a senior army officer and a policeman.  The ministry said that links with ETA go far back and had even been arrested in 1989.

In 1994, Michelena was a candidate for the European elections for the radical Basque separatist Herri Batasuna party, which was later banned in Spain in 2003 over its links to ETA.

Spanish police are expected to travel to Northern Ireland to question the detained man.

ETA is held responsible for the deaths of more than 800 people in its 40-year campaign to form an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwestern France.