ETA Founder, 11 Other Extortion Suspects Held
A founding member of the armed Basque separatist group ETA was among 12 people arrested in France and Spain in a crackdown on the organization’s extortion operations, the Spanish Interior Ministry said.
The arrests came three months after ETA announced a permanent cease-fire in its nearly four-decade campaign for Basque independence.
Among those arrested was Julen Madariaga, 74, one of ETA’s founding members. Born in the Spanish Basque town of Azpeitia, he was arrested in southwestern France, along with six other people. Five suspects were arrested in northern Spain.
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