28 March 2012
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Spain: Figures
on anti-terrorist operations released
On 5 January 2005, the Spanish Interior Ministry released figures
concerning anti-terrorist operations undertaken in 2004 in an
evaluation report that includes statistics concerning arrests,
and the ministry's press releases concerning these operations.
In 2004, the Spanish security and police forces arrested 205
suspected members or collaborators of terrorist groups.
Among these, 131 arrests took place in the framework of activities
to counter Islamic terrorism, and 74 were related to ETA. Furthermore,
57 suspected members of ETA were arrested in France, and four
more in Belgium, bringing the total number of arrests to 135.
The report is divided between "international" terrorism,
ETA and "other" groups, a section in which the arrest
of three members of the left-wing group GRAPO, one member of
the Italian Red Brigades, and a member of the IRA are included.
The report looks at anti-terrorist operations and arrests, including
the names of the people who were arrested, the dates of their
arrest, and their current status (under arrest, released on bail,
or released), as well as terrorist group's activities in Spain
in 2004. With regards to ETA, the report indicates that two terrorist
cells and three networks concerned with recruitment and infrastructure
were dismantled, and that members of the "terrorist group's
leadership" were arrested. It was the first year in which
no deaths had resulted from ETA's activities since its cease-fire
in 1999. Small-scale explosions and "urban terrorism"
(public order offences, damage to property or vandalism, and
urban violence, particularly the kale borroka (street
struggle) in the Basque Country, aimed at causing "political
de-stabilisation", listed as terrorist offences in 2000)
are described as being ETA's main activities over the last year.
As for international terrorism, the figures indicate a great
increase in the number of detentions of suspected terrorists
in 2004. The figure for 2004 is of 131 arrests, compared with
34 in 2003, 10 in 2002 and 18 in 2001, in a year that was marked
by the dreadful attack on the Madrid commuter line on 11 March
2004. 62 of the arrests were related with this attack, with a
subsequent attempt to place a similar artefact to those used
in Madrid on high-speed train line and with the cell that committed
suicide by causing an explosion in Leganés (southern Madrid)
in early April, killing Francisco Javier Torronteras, a police
officer from the Grupo Especial de Operaciones (GEO, Special
Operations Group).
The Interior Ministry's press statement presenting the report, 5.1.2005.
The report (full-text, in Spanish, pdf files)
Anti-terrorist activity:
ETA
International terrorism
Others
Terrorist activity:
ETA
International terrorism
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