Police in Spain have arrested a Spanish man on suspicion of sending six letter bombs to the Spanish prime minister and other high-profile targets late last year, the country’s interior ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
The arrest of the 74-year-old suspect took place in the town of Miranda de Ebro, about a three-hour drive north of Madrid, the ministry press office said.
The only reported injury from the six letter bombs was at the Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid last November 30. An embassy employee was injured while handling the letter, which was addressed to the Ukrainian ambassador, Spanish officials said at the time.
Authorities said that the other five letter bombs, all intercepted by security screening and resulting in no injuries, were sent in late November or early December.
They were sent to the Spanish prime minister, Spain’s defense minister, the US Embassy in Madrid, a Spanish air force base near Madrid and a Spanish arms maker in the northern city of Zaragoza.
Spanish media reported that weapons from the Spanish arms maker, Instalaza, had reportedly been sent by Spain last year to help Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion of that country. The company has declined to comment to CNN about the reports.
The arrest of the suspect is part of an ongoing operation coordinated by an investigating magistrate at Spain’s National Court in Madrid, the interior ministry said.
The suspect is expected to be arraigned before a National Court judge on Friday in a closed-door hearing, the court’s press office told CNN.
On December 1 the ministry ordered increased security at embassies and consulates in Spain, and at other sites requiring special protection. Security had already been boosted after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of last year.
After the spate of letter bombs, the Russian embassy in Madrid tweeted that it condemned the sending of such devices.
“We condemn any threat or terrorist act,” it tweeted.
