Spanish National Police and Civil Guard made 36 arrests at dawn on Tuesday morning in various areas all around the Basque Country and Navarre, as part of a macro-operation against the illegal organization Segi, antiterrorist sources confirm.

The operation, which began as dawn broke on Tuesday 24th November, is being directed by Spanish Supreme Court Judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska who, owing to the magnitude of the case, is temporarily based in Donostia-San Sebastián along with two state prosecutors and the head of police in order to oversee the organization of the procedure.

This is the largest scale operation of its kind in recent years. So far, arrests have been made in Otxarkoaga (Bilbao), Lekeitio, Zamudio, Galdakao, Iurreta y Sestao in Bizkaia; Donostia-San Sebastián, Amezketa, Azpeitia e Idiazabal in Gipuzkoa; Vitoria-Gasteiz en Álava y Barañain y Zizur Mayor in Navarra.

Police officers also entered the homes of at least three other people intending to make arrests, but they were not at home.

Aside from the arrests, searches were carried out in 34 homes, youth-centres, eateries, gastronomic societies and even municipal buildings. The operation remains open, meaning further searches and arrests could be made.

According to the same sources, the arrests came about as a result of documentation seized during the arrest of suspected ETA member Ekaitz Sirvent, arrest last April in Paris.

Segi is the youth section of the Basque pro-independence left-wing, succeeding previously banned organizations Jarrai and Haika. It was declared a terrorist organization in January 2007, concluding a court case begun by Supreme Court Judge Baltasar Garzon in 2001.