Paris, August 22: After a raid on ETA hideouts, French police discovered arms and explosives caches in southern France making it the sixth discovery in a week.
The raids carried out with Spanish help three weeks after a deadly ETA attack on a police barracks in Palma de Majorca, dealt another blow to ETA’s ability to use France as a rear base to launch attacks over the border into Spain.
After the arrest of three ETA suspects in a dawn raid on a flat in the Alpine resort of Villarembert-le-Corbier on Wednesday, French police tracked down six hideouts packed with bomb-making materials, weapons and documents.
One of those arrested was Alberto Machain Beraza, 28, whose picture was circulated after the Majorca attack, in which two Spanish officers were killed.
The others were named as Aitzol Etxaburu Arteche, 30, an alleged ETA leader, and Andoni Sarasola Yarzabal, 36.
Hours after Wednesday’s raid, French police found 112 kilos (245 pounds) of ammonium nitrate and 12 liters of nitromethane, used to make bombs, at an ETA hideout in Ferrieres, around 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Spanish border.
On Friday, police found a sixth cache: 25 kilos of ammonium nitrate and 12 of PETN together with electrical equipment at Minerve, southwest France, near the border with Spain.
Officers also recovered two revolvers stolen during a robbery in October 2006, court officials in Paris said.
ETA or Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Basque Homeland and Freedom) is blamed for the deaths of 828 people in its campaign for an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwest France.
—–Agencies