French Police Find Huge ETA Arms Cache in Basque House
May 5, 1999 - 0:0
BAYONNE, France Police searching a house after a fire in the Basque region of southwest France said Tuesday they had found an arms cache including five anti-tank rockets and almost 200 firearms. The owners of the house in the coastal village of Ciboure a 53-year-old electrician and his 46-year-old sister were arrested on Monday night. Police said that a third person, believed to be a Basque from the Spanish side of the frontier, was on the run.
In Madrid on Monday, Spanish Interior Minister Jaime Mayor Oreja said that the discovery of the arms showed that the house was a major logistics base of the banned Basque separatist movement ETA. French police were unable to make an immediate search of the house after the fire, but sources close to the inquiry later said that 125 machine pistols, 30 assault rifles, 40 handguns and five anti-tank rockets had been found in the roof on Monday night, along with explosives and a large quantity of 9-millimeter ammunition.
(AFP)
In Madrid on Monday, Spanish Interior Minister Jaime Mayor Oreja said that the discovery of the arms showed that the house was a major logistics base of the banned Basque separatist movement ETA. French police were unable to make an immediate search of the house after the fire, but sources close to the inquiry later said that 125 machine pistols, 30 assault rifles, 40 handguns and five anti-tank rockets had been found in the roof on Monday night, along with explosives and a large quantity of 9-millimeter ammunition.
(AFP)