SPANISH ANTI-TERRORIST police have revealed details of an elaborate plot to use a helicopter to free two Eta gunmen from a jail in Huelva, close to the Portuguese border.
The two Eta members whom the organisation wished to spring from detention were Jorge Garcia Sertutxa, who was found guilty of an abortive attempt on the life of King Juan Carlos in 1995 using a long-range rifle aimed at his yacht, and Igor Solana Matarran, who has been responsible for at least three murders.
Details of this plot first emerged in May last year with the arrest in Bordeaux, France, of then Eta leader Javier Peña, alias “Thierry”.
In a joint operation with French police, Spanish anti-terrorist officers found a large quantity of files – including information on the jailbreak plot – as well as arms and ammunition in Thierry’s headquarters.
The gang planned to hijack a helicopter, hold the pilot’s family hostage, force him to land in the prison yard to pick up the two prisoners, and fly them to a safe house in Portugal.
Spanish interior minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said in a radio interview yesterday that the plot had been foiled on at least two occasions, first in the summer of 2007 and again in 2008.
Far from abandoning their plan, documents found three months after Thierry’s arrest – when Jurdan Martitegi, his successor at the top of Eta’s hierarchy, was himself detained – showed that it was still very much on the books.
Mr Rubalcaba said he believed Eta would have tried again this year, although Solana Matarran is now held in Valencia prison.
Mr Rubalcaba said that not only did Eta want to release one of their most important gunmen, they wanted “to stage a psychological coup to raise the morale of their ranks”, which has suffered since a series of arrests which have decimated their numbers.
He added that the fact they planned to fly the helicopter to a safe house in Portugal added weight to suspicions that Eta has established an infrastructure across the border, and almost certainly explained why the terrorists had stolen several cars there – some of which have been used in terrorist attacks – in recent years.
Seven people, including a Basque lawyer who has defended many Eta detainees, were arrested over the weekend over suspected collaboration with the plotters. They have been transferred to Madrid and will be interrogated by the examining magistrate.