By IANS/EFE,
San Juan : A militant Puerto Rican independence activist, wanted in connection with a 1983 armoured-car robbery, was arrested Tuesday in Puerto Rico, the FBI said.
Norberto Gonzalez Claudio, a senior figure in the Boricua Popular Army, better known as Los Macheteros (Cane-cutters), was apprehended by FBI agents and Puerto Rican police in the central town of Cayey.
“After 25 years, eight months and eight days, the US law and order agencies caught up with Norberto Gonzalez Claudio,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Luis Fraticelli told a press conference in San Juan.
Claudio was wanted for the Sept. 12, 1983, armed robbery of a Wells Fargo armoured-car depot in West Hartford, Connecticut.
Claudio was alone when the FBI agents and police arrived at his home. He did not offer any resistance, Fraticelli said.
The 65-year-old could be sentenced to 275 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
Though no one was hurt in the heist, prosecutors deemed it an act of terrorism because the $7 million stolen was destined for Los Macheteros.