José Luis Michelena Berasarte and a female companion were detained at his home in the French border town of Hendaye.
Michelena Berasarte has been suspected of directing a network of agents who smuggle weapons and other materials across the border to Spain, where five deaths have been linked to the Basque separatist group in the last month.
The pair was taken to police headquarters in Bayonne for interrogation.
Earlier in the month, suspected ETA members stole 1.6 tons of explosives from a warehouse near the eastern French town of Grenoble.
Authorities believe a small portion of these explosives was used in a car bomb attack that killed a policeman in northern Spain on March 18.
ETA, whose name means Basque Homeland and Freedom in the Basque language, has been blamed for more than 800 killings in its 33-year fight to carve an independent state from the French-Spanish border.
Frank Griffiths may be reached at fgriffiths@suite101.com
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