A court in Spain has taken into custody a 74-year-old pensioner who sent letters with explosives to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and to the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid. This was announced on January 27 by La Sexta TV channel.
The National Judicial Collegium of Spain granted the prosecutor’s request for the conclusion of the author of letters with explosives in custody without bail. The requirement was justified by the fact that the accused could escape, destroy evidence, or commit another crime.
During searches, investigators found a drone capable of dropping cargo in the pensioner’s house. The judge also noted that the accused bought sodium chlorate, sulfur and gunpowder for making explosives.
The defendant, for his part, refused to testify in court. He is accused of committing six terrorist acts.
The detention of a 74-year-old Spanish citizen became known on January 25. It was reported that searches would be carried out in his house in the near future. Sending dangerous letters was carried out by the accused in two stages at the end of November last year.
On the same day, the Spanish edition of ABC denied the connection between Russian extremist groups and the author of letters with explosives. A man from the province of Burgos worked as a civil servant in Spain until his retirement, was lonely and had pro-Russian views.
In December 2022, Spanish law enforcement intercepted a suspicious letter sent to the Ukrainian consulate in Barcelona. Initially it was assumed that the envelope could contain animal remains, but later it turned out that there were no mechanical, biological or electronic elements inside.
On December 5, Spanish police seized three envelopes addressed to the Ukrainian embassy and consulates in Madrid, Barcelona and Malaga. It is believed that they had the eyes of animals.
Prior to that, on December 1, the Spanish Presidential Security Service found an envelope addressed to the country’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, which contained explosives. The device was subsequently deactivated.
At the end of November, an explosion rocked the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid. As a result, one of the employees was injured. The explosive device was in the letter, which he opened.
