Alleged ETA leader held in France

FRENCH police arrested the suspected leader of Basque separatist group ETA, as part of cross-border raids, Spain’s interior ministry said yesterday.

He was among nine alleged ETA members arrested in recent days.

Jurdan Martitegi Lizaso, 28, was arrested on Friday in the small village of Montauriol in southeast France, the ministry said.

It was another blow to ETA, which has had to cope with the arrests of three of its alleged leaders in less than six months and a wave of other detentions in France and Spain in recent months.

Martitegi allegedly took over ETA’s leadership after the arrest of the previous suspected commander, Aitzol Iriondo, in December.

Martitegi was caught along with Alexander Uriarte Cuadrado, 27, and a third, unnamed, suspect, authorities said.

Three guns, two cars — one with false licence plates — and suspected bomb-making equipment were seized.

Six other suspected ETA members were arrested in an operation that lasted until early yesterday in Spain’s northern Basque region. They ranged in age from 25 to 31.