MADRID , Spain -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The suspected leader of the Basque separatist group , ETA , and two alleged accomplices were arrested over the weekend in France . Jurdan Martitegui Lizaso is the fifth ETA suspect arrested in France in the past two weeks . Jurdan Martitegi Lizaso , 28 , was arrested Saturday in a French-Spanish operation near Perpignan in southeast France , Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said Sunday in a nationally televised news conference here . Hours later , in northern Spain 's Basque region , six other ETA suspects -- ages 25-31 -- were arrested , Rubalcaba said . Police suspect Martitegi replaced the suspected ETA military chief who was arrested last December and who , in turn , had replaced the alleged ETA military chief who was arrested last November , Rubalcaba said . Those arrests occurred in France , from where ETA has launched a number of attacks into Spain . ETA is blamed for more than 800 deaths in its more than four decades of fighting for Basque independence and is listed as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States . Rubalcaba said police had also dismantled two ETA commando cells before they could strike , one of them last October in northern Spain 's Navarra province , and the other late Saturday , when the six suspects were arrested . Martitegi 's arrest came after police trailed an alleged ETA local leader from Spain to a meeting in France with Martitegi for a two-hour training session on the use of explosives and weapons , Rubalcaba said . Police made the arrests in France right after the meeting , before the alleged local leader could return to Spain to share those details with his alleged commando cells , Rubalcaba said . Police seized three pistols , two vehicles , and a small quantity of explosives from Martitegi and the two others arrested in France , Rubalcaba said . `` I think it 's very good news and shows the constant police coordination and the cooperation between the police and the courts , '' Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon , who was involved in the latest investigation , told reporters . Martitegi is the fifth ETA suspect arrested in France in the past two weeks . Given the heavy police crackdown , Rubalcaba said investigators have noted some internal discussion among ETA members about whether they should continue their armed fight or try for a negotiated end to the violence . But he said the government , which held failed peace talks with ETA under three prime ministers since the 1980s , was no longer willing to negotiate . `` The process of dialogue is the past , and the past never returns , '' Rubalcaba said , adding that ETA would have to decide to end the violence itself , or the state would force the group to end it . Over the past two years , police in Spain and France have arrested 365 ETA suspects , Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said in December . But top Spanish officials have repeatedly warned that ETA , while weakened , is not finished . There are about 600 ETA convicts or suspects in Spanish jails and 150 others in French jails , authorities in both countries have told CNN .