The suspected leader of the Basque separatist rebel group Eta, arrested in southern France on Monday, has been moved to the custody of anti-terrorist police near Paris, the Paris prosecutor's office said today.
Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, known by his alias "Txeroki" or "Cherokee" and Spain's most wanted man, was arrested along with female Eta suspect Leire Lopez in France's Pyrenean region near the Spanish border.
They will appear before an anti-terrorist judge on Friday and Rubina will be placed under investigation "at least for complicity" in the murder of two Spanish civil guard police in the French seaside town of Capbreton in December 2007.
Aspiazu (35), was the latest in a series of senior ETA figures to be arrested. His capture appeared to be the biggest blow to the organisation since ETA's top commander Francisco Javier Lopez Pena was arrested in Bordeaux in May.
Aspiazu had been Eta's military commander for several years, and the group's overall commander since Lopez Pena's arrest.
He is alleged to be behind several attacks including the bombing of Madrid airport in 2006 and to have been involved in the killing of the Spanish civil guard police last year.
Reuters