Master Chef's Employee Held Over Bomb Attack at Resort

Police investigating a series of bomb attacks on the luxury Basque country resort owned by the French master chef Alain Ducasse have arrested and questioned a member of his staff.

Mr Ducasse, who at 33 became the youngest chef to win three Michelin stars, holds a record for simultaneously running three three-starred restaurants in Paris, Monte Carlo and New York.

Now 49, he has designed food for astronauts with the European space agency and catered for Prince Albert of Monaco's trek to the north pole, but has focused on expanding his group of restaurants and country inns across the world.

Two years ago he opened Ostapé, a Basque hillside retreat near Biarritz set in an estate of 45 hectares (110 acres) with five villas, a spa and restaurant surrounding an 18th-century manor house.

His marketing team described it as "a huge, emerald wave bathed in the sun, and sprinkled with a few terracotta roofs and some Basque sheep".

But before the resort near the Spanish border opened it was the target of two failed bomb attempts. Homemade devices were found at the site.

Then, in June, two small bombs exploded in the early hours one Sunday at two unoccupied villas at the resort, damaging walls and windows but not causing any injuries. A third, unexploded, makeshift bomb was found nearby.

There have been no claims of responsibility for any of the attacks. Ducasse, who grew up on a farm in nearby Landes and once said "I have been in love with the Basque country since my childhood", was said to have been puzzled by them.

Local media suggested anger at rocketing property prices in the region could have played a role. In 2002, while the resort was being built, leaflets were handed out complaining about the dangers of property speculators raising prices. Local papers also pointed out that small-scale attacks by Basque nationalists had declined in recent years.

A source close to the police investigation told Agence France Presse police had arrested a man and taken him to Paris for questioning over charges of associating with criminals involved in "a terrorist enterprise" and damaging property with an explosive substance.

A spokeswoman for Mr Ducasse confirmed that a member of staff had been arrested. Another spokeswoman, at his company headquarters in Paris, added: "The investigation is ongoing and we prefer to wait for the outcome before commenting." She said the attacks had not affected clients coming to the resort.