UK arrests man in assassination attempt on Spanish king

By the CNN Wire Staff

Spain's King Juan Carlos. UK police arrested a man wanted over an attempt to assassinate the king more than decade ago.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: Spain's deputy PM says the suspect's current role in the ETA is under investigation
The police will continue to pursue ETA members wherever they go, Rubalcaba says
The man is suspected of being a member of the Basque separatist group ETA
The alleged assassination attempt occurred in 1997

RELATED TOPICS

Madrid (CNN) -- British police arrested a man wanted for an attempt to assassinate the king of Spain more than a decade ago, they announced Thursday.

Spanish national Eneko Gogeaskoetxea Arronategui was detained in an armed operation in the city of Cambridge, England, police said.

He is suspected by the Spanish authorities of being a member of the Basque separatist group ETA.

Members of ETA allegedly tried to kill Spain's King Juan Carlos when he attended the inauguration of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, in October 1997.

"It doesn't matter where they go, there'll always be a police officer after them. They have it very difficult. We are not going to change this until ETA ends its violence," Spanish Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told reporters Thursday after the arrest was announced.

Rubalcaba said it was believed that the suspect held a high position in ETA logistics around 2006 and 2007 but that his current role with the ETA -- if there is one -- is under investigation.

Rubalcaba also said he did not think there was a stable ETA structure in Britain, according to Spanish media reports.

Gogeaskoetxea, 44, is due to appear in court in London later Thursday.

The European arrest warrant states Gogeaskoetxea is wanted for participation in an armed gang; attempted assassination of the king; terrorism resulting in death; possession of weapons; theft and forgery. The offenses are alleged to have taken place on October 18, 1997, in Spain.

Gogeaskoetxea's arrest comes a day after that of ETA suspect Daniel Derguy, who was detained in the town of Cahors, in southern France.

According to anti-terror sources cited by the Spanish newspaper El Pais, Gogeaskoetxea moved to Britain with his family in early 2010, using false papers.

El Pais reports that his brother Ibon Gogeaskoetxea, an alleged ETA leader, was arrested in February last year in France.

ETA has been waging an armed struggle since the late 1960s for an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwestern France.

It is blamed for the deaths of more than 800 people over the decades, while several thousand others have been wounded.

ETA is classified as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

CNN's Al Goodman contributed to this report.