ETA Terror Plot To Blow Up UK Ferry Foiled

Press Association
Thursday July 12, 2007 7:18 AM
Guardian

Authorities in Spain say they have scuppered a plot by a suspected member of Eta to blow up a ferry carrying thousands of British tourists.

Aritz Arginzoniz Zubiarre, believed to be a member of the Basque separatist group, was detained at a bus station in the Spanish port of Santander.

Reports were conflicting about where in the UK the ferry would be headed.

Newspaper El Pais's website said the suspect had details of at least two potential targets at the time of his arrest.

One was the ferry linking Santander with Portsmouth and another was a court in Santander.

But the Daily Telegraph reported that Spanish police said the Pont-Aven, which sails twice a week between Plymouth and Santander and carries up to 2,400 passengers, was one of three possible targets.

It said Pont-Aven operator Brittany Ferries insisted there was no threat to the ferry.

Press coverage which cited unnamed police investigators, said Arginzoniz Zubiarre was waiting for the arrival of explosives and a car when he was arrested on Tuesday.

Newspaper El Mundo said Arginzoniz Zubiarre may have been planning suspected attacks with his girlfriend, named as Saioa Sanchez Iturregi.

Arginzoniz Zubiarre had planned to carry out a terror attack on a public building in Spain using a car bomb, interior minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said.

The ministry said he was carrying a pistol, a timer and false identity documents when he was arrested, and had drawn attention to himself because of a backpack he was carrying.

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