EFLIrish arms smugglers, possibly linked to the IRA, sold the Basque terrorist group ETA at least two surface-to-air missiles which were discovered in arms caches in the French countryside, it was reported Wednesday. The two Russian-made missiles, still in their cardboard boxes and with instructions attached, were discovered in ETA arsenals in two south-western French villages, Spain's interior ministry confirmed. The missiles were reported to be lightweight, shoulder-launched Sam-7s with Strela launchers, though there was no official confirmation. The missiles were sold to ETA from Ireland about four years ago, the Spanish daily La Vanguardia newspaper said, quoting anonymous anti-terrorist sources in the Basque region.
A letter in English explaining how to use the heat-seeking missiles, which are designed for attacking low-flying aircraft, was reportedly found in a raid on an ETA safe-house three years ago. Some of Spain's major airports, especially those in the Basque country, put into place special protective measures to avoid ground-to-air attacks after security services became convinced ETA had missiles in its arsenal, according to reports. The IRA is known to have bought Sam-7s from Libya in the 1980s and is believed to have still had several of them at the start of the arms decommissioning process. British security forces began monitoring a suspected three-way link between the IRA, ETA, and the Colombian guerrillas Farc in 2000.