Nine police officers surrounded a table in the restaurant where two guests were sitting, finishing a bottle of the Marques de Caceres wine, the daily says.
"Ante Gotovina?", they asked. "Yes, that's me," the general answered, with his Australian friend with whom he was having a dinner looking up in surprise, the daily says. According to the Croatian media, the man sitting with Gotovina was Jozo Grgic, a former Croatian emigrant who returned from Australia to Croatia ten years ago.
General Gotovina, who perfectly understands Spanish and does not speak the language badly, then looked at a small video camera one of the agents was holding. Almost smiling, he said: "They had to find me eventually," El Pais says. He then crossed his arms behind his back to be handcuffed and asked if he could take his jacket.
Gotovina did not know it, but the day before his arrest he was closely followed. Three police agents stayed in the same hotel to watch his moves and find out if he had company and if he was armed. Three police officers were among the restaurant guests who sat nearest to Gotovina and Grgic.
The agents who arrested the general noticed a degree of relief on his face, the daily says.
Gotovina travelled eight countries with two fake passports before he was arrested in the Bitacora hotel on the Canary Islands, where he had already spent two-three days in October, according to the daily.
The fake passports were in the names of Kristijan Horvat and Stjepan Senicic.
The general used them to travel to Tahiti, Argentina, Chile, China, Russia, the Czech Republic, Mauretania and Mauritius. Neither of the passports had any stamp showing when he entered or left Spain and it remains unknown how he had entered the country, the daily says.
Spanish Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso told reporters on Friday it was obvious that Gotovina was a very mobile man. It is known that last October he spent two-three days in the Canaries, but the information on the exact location was not revealed.
The information on his previous visit to the Canary Islands is known thanks to cooperation with Croatian authorities of several months ago. Croatian authorities traced Gotovina's phone calls to his wife and a friend, as well as to businessman Hrvoje Petrac, who was arrested in Greece in August this year and who reportedly financed Gotovina, El Pais says.
The crucial element for Gotovina's arrest was a form which he filled in the Bitacora hotel. Gotovina checked in with the passport in the name of Kristijan Horvat, which had the original date and place of his birth.
At the time of his arrest Gotovina had 24 EUR500 banknotes, the kind of banknotes rarely seen in everyday transactions and appreciated by people who have to travel with large amounts of money which does not take up much space.
El Pais further speculates that the general is likely a very religious person because in his hotel room in Tenerife he had several rosaries and a number of pictures of the Holy Virgin Mary, sources close to the investigators have said.
The police also found in the room a laptop, the contents of which are now being analysed. They are considered to be of crucial importance for the reconstruction of Gotovina's trips and for information on his contacts and helpers.