Spanish Police Arrest Man Allegedly Perpetrator of Package Bomb Terror, Linked to Russia?

Illustration of Spanish police. (Wikimedia Commons/Diario de Madrid)

JAKARTA - Spanish police have arrested a 74-year-old man suspected of sending parcel bombs in November and December to targets, including the Ukrainian and US Embassies and the prime minister's office, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

The suspect is a retired Spanish citizen with the initials P.G.P. who are tech-savvy and highly active on social networks, the ministry said.

It further said that the police immediately searched his house, while the man was detained in the northern town of Miranda de Ebro.

Armed officers kept people away from the low-rise brick block building that housed the man's third-floor apartment in a blue-collar neighborhood.

A video provided by the Interior Ministry shows officers and sniffer dogs searching a silver Peugeot parked outside as forensic specialists take photos. The police also apparently gained access to the locked garage.

Witnesses said the suspect remained in the house when the search was carried out.

"Although it is suspected that the suspect manufactured and sent the explosive device himself, the police are not ruling out the participation or influence of others in the incident," the ministry said in a statement.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska declined to comment on reports that a Russian group might be behind the attack.

"We are working on all possibilities," Grande-Marlaska told reporters from Vitoria.

"The investigation is very advanced and we can really be very satisfied," he said.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported on Sunday, investigators have focused on the Russian Imperial Movement, a group with links to a far-right Spanish organization believed to be linked to Russian intelligence.

Spanish officials declined to comment on the report, while a senior judicial source denied knowledge of any such line of inquiry.

Separately, a city spokesman said the man had worked in the town hall of the Basque capital Vitoria-Gasteiz before retiring in 2013. Miranda de Ebro is 35 km (22 miles) southeast of Vitoria.

It is understood that as many as six packages with explosives were sent between November 24 and December 2. As well as the two embassies and the office of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, the package is aimed at the Ministry of Defence, an air force base and weapons manufacturer.

Most of the packages were defused, although an employee at the Ukrainian embassy was slightly injured checking them.

Investigators have concluded that all six packages were sent from the city of Burgos, the ministry said.

A source close to the investigation told Reuters in early December that all the packages were sent from Valladolid, a two-hour drive from Miranda del Ebro.

A judicial source said the suspect was scheduled to appear before the High Court on Friday.