Spanish Police

Spanish police on Friday arrested three alleged members of the hacker and activist group Anonymous on suspicion of taking part in online attacks against Sony Corp.'s PlayStation Network, as well as banks, businesses and government websites. Police said the three "hacktivists," whose identities have not been released, were involved in the April hacking of the PlayStation Network, an online video gaming and entertainment service that Sony suspended for more than a month after the attack.

MADRID - Reminders of her son hang close to Pilar Manjon's heart. There's the necklace she wears with his name, Daniel, and the golden pendant bearing his first initial. A locket holds a tiny snapshot of his handsome face, smiling with the promise of a life that was abruptly cut short, along with scores of others, a decade ago in the deadliest Islamic terrorist attack on European soil. Daniel, 20, was heading into downtown Madrid the morning of March 11, 2004, when a series of bombs exploded within minutes aboard four packed commuter trains.

Spanish police officers said Monday they have seized 110 pounds of cocaine and arrested three people. Agents found the drugs while searching the trunk of a car in central Madrid, a police spokesman said.

MADRID -- Two mansions in Madrid, five luxury cars and seven seaside Mediterranean properties linked to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak have been seized by Spanish police. In all, Spain has frozen more than $36.5 million in assets believed to belong to Mubarak, the autocratic leader ousted by public protests in February 2011. The seizure followed a request from the new Egyptian government, which is seeking to recoup assets from Mubarak and 130 people associated with his regime.

Spanish police stopped a man who they believed was illegally using a cellphone while driving in Madrid. In reality, he was just scratching his ear -- but they fined him $70 anyway. The charge: driving while "holding his ear with his right hand in a permanent fashion." The driver, attorney Tomas Valdivielso, filed a 10-page appeal.

Police said Saturday that they have found and expelled a Libyan student who was ordered out of Spain on April 25 with 10 compatriots. The Interior Ministry said at the time that the student, Abderraman ben Hamida, belonged to two groups with international terrorist links, but it gave no details. The expulsion was in line with sanctions on Libya imposed by the European Communities. Ben Hamida was found Friday in the southeastern city of Alicante.

Suspected ETA gunmen shot and killed a Spanish policeman and seriously wounded another in France on Saturday, the first killing by the Basque separatist group in almost a year. The two plain-clothed Guardia Civil policemen had been taking part in a surveillance operation with French police in Capbreton, 12 miles from the southern city of Biarritz, French police said.

A Spanish police corporal, Eugenio Recio Garcia, 51, was shot to death Tuesday by three assailants in the northern Basque town of Santurce, 10 miles west of Bilbao, police said. Basque separatists are suspected, they said.

Two burglars who entered the Egyptian Embassy by climbing through a window escaped empty-handed after a brief shoot-out with security guards, Spanish police said Thursday.

French and Spanish police arrested Mikel Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, reputed leader of commando units for the Basque separatist group ETA. French counter-terrorism agents working with Spanish police detained Aspiazu Rubina in the French border town of Cauterets, French police said. Aspiazu Rubina, 35, is suspected of involvement in several killings, including the shootings in December of two Spanish guardsmen in France, French and Spanish officials said. ETA has been fighting since the 1960s for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwestern France.

Spanish police on Friday arrested three alleged members of the hacker and activist group Anonymous on suspicion of taking part in online attacks against Sony Corp.'s PlayStation Network, as well as banks, businesses and government websites. Police said the three "hacktivists," whose identities have not been released, were involved in the April hacking of the PlayStation Network, an online video gaming and entertainment service that Sony suspended for more than a month after the attack.

Investigators have recovered stolen masterpieces by two of Spain's most revered artists: Goya and El Greco, Spanish police said Friday. The oil-on-canvas works, Goya's 18th century "The Apparition of the Virgin of Pilar" and El Greco's 16th century "The Annunciation," were stolen 14 years ago after an exhibition tour. Works by these painters are highly valued and most are kept in museums such as Madrid's Prado. However, these two were privately owned when stolen. They were found in a private house near the southeastern city of Alicante, a police statement said.

Spanish police said Thursday that they had confiscated dozens of suspected fake Dali artworks that were to be put on sale in the southern town of Estepona. A total of 81 pieces were seized, 12 of which might be genuine pieces designed by Salvador Dali and are very similar to pieces listed on Interpol and Spanish police records as having been stolen in Belgium, France and the United States, a police statement said. The art included sculptures, bas-reliefs, lithographs, cutlery and textile pieces.

French and Spanish police arrested Mikel Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, reputed leader of commando units for the Basque separatist group ETA. French counter-terrorism agents working with Spanish police detained Aspiazu Rubina in the French border town of Cauterets, French police said. Aspiazu Rubina, 35, is suspected of involvement in several killings, including the shootings in December of two Spanish guardsmen in France, French and Spanish officials said. ETA has been fighting since the 1960s for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwestern France.

Spanish police arrested 13 men accused of harboring Islamic extremists, including several suspects in the March 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people, the Interior Ministry said. The men are suspected of giving shelter to Islamic extremists and helping them flee the country. Police made the arrests in four towns near Barcelona. Raids also occurred in Madrid and Algeciras. The arrests stemmed from a 2005 police operation.

Spanish and French authorities arrested one of the highest-ranking members of the armed Basque separatist group ETA, a Spanish police spokesman said. Javier Lopez Pena was detained in Bordeaux with three other alleged ETA members, the police spokesman said anonymously, in keeping with police regulations. The official said Lopez Pena played a key role in the ETA's decision to end a cease-fire.

France and Spain dealt an unprecedented blow against the Basque separatist guerrilla movement ETA in a closely coordinated crackdown on both sides of the border. Spanish police in the northern Basque city of Bilbao said that six suspected members of ETA (Basque Homeland and Freedom) were arrested, raising to 35 the number of arrests in that region since Friday.

Spanish police said Thursday that they had confiscated dozens of suspected fake Dali artworks that were to be put on sale in the southern town of Estepona. A total of 81 pieces were seized, 12 of which might be genuine pieces designed by Salvador Dali and are very similar to pieces listed on Interpol and Spanish police records as having been stolen in Belgium, France and the United States, a police statement said. The art included sculptures, bas-reliefs, lithographs, cutlery and textile pieces.

A burglar who broke into a funeral home tried to fool police by playing dead. But he breathed. Plus, he wore grungy clothes, not his Sunday best. Spanish police and the Crespo Funeral Home said they had no idea what the 23-year-old man was trying to steal in the March 17 break-in at Burjassot, a small town just outside Valencia. His name was not released.

Suspected ETA gunmen shot and killed a Spanish policeman and seriously wounded another in France on Saturday, the first killing by the Basque separatist group in almost a year. The two plain-clothed Guardia Civil policemen had been taking part in a surveillance operation with French police in Capbreton, 12 miles from the southern city of Biarritz, French police said.