Four suspected ETA separatists arrested

FOUR suspected members of Basque separatist group ETA were arrested in Portugal and France, including one who was allegedly driving a van loaded with explosives, officials said yesterday.

Two ETA suspects were captured in northern Portugal after one was stopped while driving the van through the northwestern Spanish town of Bermillo de Sayago, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) east of the border with Portugal, a regional Interior Ministry spokesman told reporters.

Several houses in Bermillo de Sayago, which has a population of 1,000, were evacuated and the area around the van was cordoned off, the ministry spokesman said. No details were given about the quantity of explosives.

A Civil Guard spokesman told The Associated Press that the two suspects in France were arrested in central Clermont-Ferrand as they approached a weapons stash. Both spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with government rules.

The Interior Ministry spokesman said two police officers stopped the van in Spain around 10pm on Saturday (2100 GMT) when their suspicions were raised by its French licence plates.

The driver of the van then pushed passed the police and proceeded to flee the scene driving off in their patrol car which he stole.

The police alerted their Portuguese counterparts who rapidly arrested the man and a woman, who apparently had been following the van in a presumed getaway vehicle with French plates, authorities said.