A FORMER member of the Basque terrorist cell ETA has been arrested in México after 30 years in hiding, just a month before his crimes would have expired under the statute of limitations.
Ángel María Tellería Uriarte, 60, was directly involved in the murder of police inspector María Josefa García in June 1981.
He and two other ETA members, José Luis Eciolaza Galán and Antonio Goicoechea Elorriaga, fled after Eciolaza shot the policewoman with a machine gun in an apartment in Zarauz (Guipúzcoa province) in the Basque Country where she was held hostage, hurling grenades at the building as they ran.
They were placed under an Interpol Red Card arrest warrant, and Tellería has been missing ever since.
Now, nearly 28 years later, he has been found in the town of León in the central Mexican State of Guanajuato.
Using various aliases, including 'Antxoka', 'Koldo' and 'Gotzon', Tellería has been living in México illegally for nearly three decades.
The offences of accessory to murder, unlawful possession of firearms and membership of a terrorist organisation were due to expire under the statute of limitations this coming March, meaning even if he had been found after then and declared guilty, he could not be forced to serve a sentence for the crimes.
He was taken in handcuffs to the National Migration Institute (INM) in México DF before being deported to Spain for trial.
