Ignacio Lerin Sanchez and Antonio Troitino arrested as part of Europe-wide crackdown on Basque separatist group
Police are searching a west London address after the arrest of two members of the Basque separatist group Eta, one of whom has been convicted for 22 killings, the Spanish interior ministry said on Friday.
Antonio Troitino, 55, and 39-year-old Ignacio Lerin Sanchez were arrested over alleged terrorist offences in Spain at around 4am on Friday, the Metropolitan police said.
Five suspected Eta members have been arrested this week in France, Spain and Britain as part of a joint crackdown on the group, the Spanish ministry announced.
Troitino, who was convicted of 22 murders in the 1980s, was freed in 2011 after serving 24 years. At the time, Spain's national court ruled that the six years Troitino had spent on remand could count as part of his sentence, which could not exceed more than 30 years under Spanish law at the time. The decision was reversed and an arrest warrant issued for Troitino.
Police in London said the two men had been arrested under Section 5 of the Extradition Act and had been taken to a central London police station. A 38-year-old woman had been detained at the same premises for alleged fraud offences, it added, while two other men had been arrested for alleged immigration offences. Arranz and Sanchez later appeared at an extradition hearing at Westminster magistrates court and were remanded in custody until 20 July.
Weakened by the arrests of most of its leaders and by waning support in the Basque region, Eta said in October it would give up its armed struggle, which lasted more than 40 years and claimed more than 800 lives.
But Madrid has declined to negotiate a definitive end to the conflict, insisting that Eta disband and hand over its weapons. Sixteen suspected Eta members have been arrested so far this year, mostly in France and Spain.