MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish police on Wednesday arrested a 74-year-old man suspected of being the sender of letter-bombs in November and December to the Ukrainian and U.S. embassies and several institutions in Spain, the Interior Ministry said.
The man, a Spanish citizen, was detained in the northern town of Miranda del Ebro, and police officers were still searching his home, the ministry said in a statement, without providing further details.
One person was slightly injured by a letter-bomb at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid. A total of six parcels with explosives were sent to targets including Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, government offices, a European Union satellite agency and the U.S. Embassy between Nov. 24 and Dec. 2.
The arrest came three days after the New York Times reported that investigators in recent weeks have focused on the Russian Imperial Movement, a radical group that has ties with far-right Spanish organizations with regard to the letter bombs. The group is believed to be linked to Russian intelligence agencies.
Spanish officials have declined to comment on the report, while a senior judicial source denied having knowledge of such line of investigation.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro and Belen Carreño; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Sharon Singleton)
