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French Police Arrest Suspected Militant Basque Member

A policeman enters the Police station of Bayonne, French Pyrenees, where Juan Carlos Iriarte, a Spaniard linked to the ETA, is held after he was arrested in the southwestern French border town of Hendaye, 01 June 2010

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Last updated on: May 31, 2010 8:00 PM

French and Spanish police say they have arrested a suspected member of the Basque separatist movement ETA.

French police took Juan Carlos Iriarte Perez into custody after a raid on his home in the southwestern French city of Hendaye Tuesday.

Sources said Iriarte is suspected of helping raise money by charging a so-called "revolutionary tax" to businesses in the Basque region.

Authorities have also arrested ETA's suspected military leader, Mikel Karrera Sarobe, also known as Ata, in the past month.

ETA is blamed for 830 deaths during its four-decade push for an independent Basque state in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. The European Union and the United States consider ETA a terrorist organization.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.

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