Britain Arrests Suspect over Spanish King Assassination Bid
Armed officers have arrested a suspected Basque separatist in Britain on Thursday in connection with an attempt to assassinate Spain's King Juan Carlos in 1997, police said.
Eneko Gogeaskoetxea Arronategui, 44, was detained by armed police in the university city of Cambridge, eastern England.
He is "wanted by Spanish authorities in connection with the attempted assassination of the king of Spain, terrorism and other serious offences," Scotland Yard said in a statement.
Arronategui was apprehended on a European arrest warrant, which states he is wanted for "participation in an armed gang; attempted assassination of the king; terrorism resulting in death; possession of weapons; theft and forgery".
The offences were alleged to have taken place on October 18, 1997.
Searches are under way at a residential address and two business addresses in Cambridge.
Arronategui is due to appear later Thursday at City of Westminster Magistrates Court in central London.
Armed Basque separatist organization ETA is considered a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States.
It has been linked with a string of assassination plots on Juan Carlos, who became king in 1975.
ETA is held responsible for nearly 830 deaths in a near-42-year campaign for independence for the Basque Country of northern Spain and southwestern France.
In January, ETA announced a permanent, verifiable ceasefire.
Source: Agence France Presse
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