In a continuing police crackdown, two alleged women members of the Basque separatist organization ETA were remanded in custody in Madrid today, charged with possession of 60 kilogrammes of explosives, judicial sources said.
Oihane Bakedano, 26, according to police a self-confessed ETA member since 2001, was remanded in custody charged with belonging to an armed organisation and illegal possession of arms and explosives.
Her alleged accomplice, Aizeti Fernandez, was also remanded for possession of explosives found in a house search by police on Sunday, during an operation in the Basque-region provinces of Vizcaya and Guipuzcoa.
The arrests bring to six the number of alleged ETA members held after Sunday's police operation. One was subsequently released after questioning.
Police seized a total of 90 kilogrammes of explosives in the operation to dismantle what they said was a combat-ready ETA cell.
The five detainees are suspected of being part of an ETA operational squad, which authorities said could have been involved in killing a policeman in neighboring Navarra province last week, officials said yesterday.
ETA, which is blamed with over 800 deaths during its three-decade campaign for an independent Basque homeland, has claimed responsibility for the killing.
In August a Spanish anti-terrorist judge banned the Basque separatist party Batasuna, the political wing of ETA.
AFP