MADRID, March 12, 2008 (AFP) - French authorities on Wednesday sent three alleged members of the Basque separatist group ETA to Spain, where they were wanted by the courts, the Spanish interior ministry said.

The three are wanted for 'membership in an armed group and terrorism' by the National Audience, Spain's high criminal court, it said in a statement.

Garikoitz Pascual Muneta, 31, and Eneko Paskual Mercilla, 26, were arrested in February in the southwestern French city of Bayonne.

They are suspected of membership in an ETA commando that was dismantled in March 2007 by Spanish police and were the target of a European arrest warrant, the ministry said.

The third suspect, Juan Carlos Iriarte Perez, 37, was arested in October in the French town of Hendaye on the border with Spain for speeding. Spanish police believe he was part of a team that extorted money for ETA.

'He played an intermediate role and his job was to get in contact with the extortion victims,' which were usually Basque entrepreneurs, the statement added.

ETA has killed more than 800 people in bombings and shootings in its nearly 40-year campaign for an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and parts of southwestern France.

It is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States.