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'Eta plot to bomb UK-Spain ferry foiled'
Spanish police have foiled a plot by Eta terrorists to blow up a ferry carrying thousands of British tourists, officials said yesterday. They said the Pont-Aven, which sails twice a week between Plymouth and the northern Spanish port of Santander, was one of three possible targets. If the bomb had exploded at sea a major disaster could have occurred on the vessel which carries up to 2,400 passengers and 183 crew.Since the end of an Eta ceasefire just over a month ago, Spanish officials have warned of "an imminent major attack" by the terrorist group which is demanding an independent Basque region encompassing parts of northern Spain and southern France. Two Eta vehicle bombs have recently been intercepted on their way to Spain; one from Portugal and one from France. A spokesman for the Spanish interior ministry said that the ferry plot was foiled when police arrested a young Eta terrorist at Santander bus station on Tuesday. Aritz Arginzonic Zubiaurre, 22, was carrying a rucksack containing a Smith & Wesson pistol, a detonator usually used by Eta for car bombs and false identity documents. He had been staying at a campsite 27 miles away with his girlfriend, Saioa Sánchez Iturregi. Among their camping gear police said they found details of targets in Santander: the ferry, a law court and a popular plaza. Police said the couple were planning an "imminent attack" and had been waiting for the delivery of a car bomb when Arginzonic was detained. Sánchez escaped. It would not be the first time that Eta has attempted an attack at sea. Several years ago the group planned to load a van bomb on to a ferry sailing from Valencia to the Balearic Islands, but the van broke down and the plot was abandoned. A spokesman for Brittany Ferries, which operates the Pont-Aven, insisted there was no threat to the ferry. However, Spanish authorities yesterday stepped up security checks including increased sniffer dog patrols at Santander port. Eta has tried to disrupt tourism in Spain, the country's main industry, with bomb campaigns on popular resorts. Warnings were usually telephoned. It is believed to have at least five itinerant commandos with 70 young members trained in camps in South America. The Foreign Office advises British holidaymakers to be "vigilant". Although Eta declared a ceasefire in March last year as a prelude to peace talks with the Spanish government, its members detonated a car bomb at Madrid airport last December that killed two men. Since then, 11 Eta suspects have been arrested, mainly in France and three major bomb plots have been thwarted. Posted by: lotp 2007-07-12 |
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