British woman held for attempted assassination of far-right politician in Spain
MADRID – A British woman and her partner were among three people arrested on Tuesday for the attempted assassination of a far-right politician in Spain.
Two men on a motorbike shot Alejo Vidal-Quadras in the face in the centre of Madrid in broad daylight earlier this month.
The 78-year-old founding member of the far-right Vox party survived because the bullet passed through his jaw and he is being treated in hospital.
The woman and her boyfriend, who have not been named, were held in Lanjaron in the Alpujarras mountain region in southern Spain, in connection with the 9 November shooting.
The former leader of the conservative People’s Party in Catalonia suggested that he had been targeted by Iranian hitmen because he is a prominent critic of the Islamic regime and supports opposition groups in the West.
However, police said they were keeping an open mind on the motive.
Spain’s National Police said: “We can confirm a British woman has been arrested in connection with the shooting of a man in Madrid on November.”
Homicide squad officers investigating the attempted shooting traced a car on CCTV that was seen near the scene of the shooting.
The same hire car was seen in Lanjaron and aroused suspicions because it refused to move despite an order to do so as pruning was due to start in the town, police said.
A third man has been arrested in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol. No-one has been charged in connection with the shooting.
