Italian police arrest Red Brigades suspect

Italian police arrested a suspected member of the Red Brigades terror group today, two days after finding some 220lbs of explosives in an alleged hideout of the group.

Diana Blefari Melazzi, was the tenant of the basement near Termini train station in central Rome that has been allegedly used by the gang, officials said.

Blefari Melazzi was picked up in a pre-dawn raid in a house in a coastal village about 30 miles north of Rome. She was not armed and did not resist the arrest.

Police found fake IDs and a huge amount of money in the house, the officials said.

Blefari Melazzi was taken to the Rome police headquarters, where she refused to answer any questions.

A top Rome anti-terrorist official, Franco Gabrielli, said investigators believed she had an important role in the terrorist group.

The Red Brigades are best known for high-profile attacks in the 1970s and ’80s.

Their strikes had died down until they claimed responsibility for the 1999 killing of government labour consultant Massimo D’Antona, and then for the 2002 killing of another labour consultant, Marco Biagi.

In October, authorities arrested nine people, and on Saturday they uncovered the alleged hideout.

Officials say both operations struck crucial blows against the group.

The raid on the Rome basement on Saturday turned up about 220lbs of explosives, along with dozens of detonators, hand grenades, bullets, dozens of licence plates, fake IDs, laptops and police uniforms.

In 1978, the Red Brigades kidnapped former Prime Minister Aldo Moro, holding him for two months before killing him.