The National Court rules out that the person detained for the letter bombs sent to Spain between November and December 2022 has no connection with the Russian Imperial Movement, a Russian supremacist and radical group, according to legal sources confirmed to La Vanguardia.
Days after this hypothesis was made public through the New York Times, the Police arrested a 74-year-old retired man, a resident of Miranda de Ebro (Burgos), as the alleged author of the shipments. These sources explain that the thesis of the Russian links reached the investigators at an embryonic moment of the case, but after an analysis it was discarded.
In fact, after the events in Spain, a wave of bomb shipments to the rest of Europe was feared. Among others, the British authorities were extremely cautious given the fear of the call or repeat effect that could be experienced after what happened.
The agents in charge of the case did a meticulous job until they found the main suspect, who testifies today in the National Court after his arrest. He is a very active person on social networks and according to National Police investigators he has technical and computer knowledge. Until his retirement, in 2013, he worked as a civil servant in the Vitoria City Council.
According to sources of the investigation, the detainee has refused to voluntarily submit a DNA test to compare it with the one that appeared in one of the letters, which will have to be done under court order. After his arrest, the agents searched his address and his mobile and electronic devices.
Your analysis will be able to show if you were a follower of a pro-Russian forum or if you have participated in some conspiracy theories. However, to date and before his arrest, the agents do not have information that he was a member or had direct ties to members of any Russian or pro-Russian organization, such as the Russian Imperial Movement, described as supremacist and considered by the United States. a terrorist group.
The letters with pyrotechnic material were sent in two batches. The first of the letters, addressed to Pedro Sánchez, was detected on November 24. Later, another at the Ukrainian embassy in Spain. There were four more letters during the first days of December. One of them, that of the Torrejón de Ardoz military base (Madrid), did not detonate and served to follow the trail to the suspect.
The Scientific Police extracted remains of DNA from the envelope that contained a rudimentary explosive system with some pyrotechnic material. However, the biological tests found no match in the police records. It was possible to verify that the sender's address was false and that the handwriting used, according to the analysis, could belong to an elderly person.
According to sources of the investigation, the stamps used by the author of the shipment were the origin of the thread. Despite the fact that they were sent from Valladolid, their tracking was able to show that they were purchased in Burgos.
After that, the envelopes used, purchased online, were analyzed. The agents came to detect the supplier and buyers of the consignment. And that thread continued to be pulled until it reached Burgos again. With the control of the IPs of the buyers' computers, the siege was narrowed until reaching the main suspect.
