Man suspected of shooting Spanish politician arrested in Netherlands

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - The man suspected of shooting Spanish politician Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca in the jaw has been arrested in the Netherlands, Spanish police announced on Wednesday.

Alejo Vidal-Quadras was shot in central Madrid last November. The attacker then quickly fled on a motorcycle.

The bullet went through the politician's jaw and he was released from the hospital 16 days later.

Vidal-Quadras served as the First Vice President of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2007 in the conservative Popular Party and then helped found the far-right party Vox in 2014.

The man suspected of shooting Vidal-Quadras was the subject of an International Arrest Warrant issued by Spain’s National Court.

This is the sixth arrest in the case, according to Spanish police. The other arrests took place in Spain, Colombia and the Netherlands.

Spanish media reported that the suspected hitman is a 37-year-old French man with Tunisian origins and a criminal background.

Catalan daily La Vanguardia reported that the suspect has ties to the Mocro Maffia, which traffics drugs through several European countries.

However, 79-year-old Vidal-Quadras claims that the Iranian government gave the orders.

Vidal-Quadras is an outspoken supporter of the National Council of Resistance of Iran and has been blacklisted by the Iranian regime.

“I am public enemy number one of the Ayatollahs,” he told The Sun newspaper last month. “But there were many others in the West. My advice to all the people in the list is to be very cautious.”

He urged the Western countries to take more measures against Iran and said he now travels everywhere with protection.

“I have no doubt if they can they will try again because this assassination attempt has been a great defeat for the Iranian regime. I imagine for the rest of my life, which I hope to be long, I will live with this Damocles sword hanging over me but I am very well protected now,” he added in the interview.