News, June 2004

Good week for anti-terror police

18th June. This week has been a good one for the anti-terrorist police departments in Spain and France. 8 were arrested on charges related to the 3/11 train bombings, while in France another 8 were arrested on ETA related charges.

Eight were arrested last weekend in the Asturias region for dynamite robbery leading to the 3/11 Madrid train bombings. They included the wife of the man who gave himself up immediately after the bombing for having coordinated the robbery. She and two others were released after questioning. Postdata: another miner was detained in the Canaries on 24th June.

Furthermore, Spain requested the extradition of Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, 'Mohammed the Egyptian', under arrest in Rome and accused of masterminding the 3/11 attacks. Increasing evidence has come out concerning his relationship to 'El Tunecino', considered the immediate leader of the 3/11 attack - who was among those who committed spectacular suicide in the Madrid suburb of Leganés in April.

In France, a further eight were arrested on charges of belonging to the support structure of ETA. In their posession were firearms and other artefacts and papers implicating them in the band's activities. The Spanish Interior Ministry considers that currently the structure of ETA is considerably weakened by the arrests of the past three months.