German police arrest wanted ETA suspect

German police have detained a suspected member of the Basque separatist group ETA whom Spain wants in connection with a number…

German police have detained a suspected member of the Basque separatist group ETA whom Spain wants in connection with a number of attacks.

The 29-year-old man was seized by police on a street in the Bavarian city Nuremberg on Tuesday evening, police said today.

The BKA, Germany's version of the FBI, declined to identify the man, saying only that he was an ETA suspect detained on Spain's request. But the Spanish Interior Ministry said he was well-known suspect Mr Pablo Elkoro.

"This detention in Germany shows there is no refuge for the members of the terrorist organisation, not in France, not in Germany, not in Latin America," Interior Minister Mr Angel Acebes told reporters in Pamplona, a city Basque nationalists claim as part of a greater Basque homeland.

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Mr Acebes said Mr Elkoro fled Spain several years ago and was wanted by the High Court for a number of unspecified cases.

Nuremberg police originally came across Mr Elkoro when a police patrol caught him riding a bicycle under the influence of drugs at the end of last year.

The suspect said he was a 38-year-old Spaniard, but police checked his fingerprints against Europe-wide computer records.