America's Cup targeted by ETA suspect: reports
2007-01-26 09:23 (New York)
MADRID, Jan 26, 2007 (AFP) - An ETA suspect arrested this week
in Spain was planning an attack on the America's Cup, the world's
most prestigious yachting regatta, several newspapers said Friday
quoting Spanish police.
Iker Aguirre Bernadal was arrested on Thursday during a routine
check by police on a train that had crossed the border between the
French town of Perpignan on its way to Barcelona on Spain's
Mediterranean coast.
The Spanish interior ministry said he was wanted for committing
an act of terror and public order-related offences,
the subject of
a warrant issued in July 2004 by a Basque provincial court.
Spanish media said that 3,000 euros (3,900 dollars) in cash, six
false identification papers as well as manuals on making explosives
were found on Bernadal when he was arrested.
He was to obtain information on the America's Cup which starts
in Valencia in April and will run for several months,
said the
centre-left newspaper El Pais quoting police.
ETA's military chief Garikoitz Aspiazu
Txeroki
had asked him
to set up the infrastructure in Valencia to carry out one or
several attacks during the America's Cup,
said the right-wing daily
ABC quoting investigators.
Government efforts to begin peace talks with ETA broke down
earlier this month after a bomb planted by the Basque separatist
group at Madrid airport on December 30 killed two men from Ecuador.
ETA has waged a bloody struggle for an independent Basque
homeland comprising parts of northern Spain and southwestern France
for nearly four decades that has claimed more than 800 lives.
vg/gk/ag
-0- Jan/26/2007 14:08 GMT
-0- Jan/26/2007 14:23 GMT
On the other hand, maybe it was just pre-America's Cup espionage and sabotage plots against certain boats. <img src=
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If this was a plot against the America's Cup as a whole, it is interesting that terrorists take sailing more seriously than the media does. <img src=
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But, it would be a bad way to get more publicity for sailing. <img src=
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This plot was undoubtedly more against Spain than anything to do with sailing. Having the AC in Spain is a matter of pride for the country and to strike against it would be a pretty big terrorist blow.
Darn! You mean sailing won't be the focus of the publicity?
Yes, but this is the only bad news.
Look at the bright side: there are no injured or dead victims, no families crying and the boats remain intact. Depending on the timing of the explosion(s), lots of important people for the sport would have been lost.
Also, terrorist plans did not include using a multihull for delivery...