The alleged mastermind behind the DDoS attack on anti-spam non-profit organisation Spamhaus has been arrested in the Catalan town of Granollers, approximately 35km (21.7 miles) north of Barcelona.
Sven Olaf Kamphuis, a Dutch national, was found to be living in a small rented attic flat that has been described as "squalid", and was reportedly surrounded by a mass of cables and computer equipment.
The 35-year-old, who has been described as the internet's public enemy number one', allegedly told the arresting Spanish and Dutch police officers that he was the telecommunications minister of the Cyberbunker Republic a position he also claims to hold on his Facebook page and is also the location in which he claims to live.
He reportedly attempted to claim diplomatic immunity due to his alleged role; however this was not considered a legitimate claim.
Nevertheless, the Spanish Police officer who led the joint operation and heads up the cybercrime unit in Barcelona told the Guardian that Kamphuis "didn't seem to be joking".
Kamphuis' attack on Spamhaus "almost broke the internet" according to infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloud provider CloudFlare.
However, market watchers have questioned the legitimacy of this claim. Analysts from Neustar said the discovery of divers cutting cables off the coast of Egypt was more likely the real cause of the slow-down in internet traffic across Europe and the Middle East.
CloudFlare had previously claimed to have saved whistle-blowing website Wikileaks from a similar attack in 2012.
Kamphuis has been taken to the Netherlands for prosecution and is currently being held in jail while charges against him are decided. He will appear before a court in Rotterdam again before the end of the week in order to review his bail conditions.
