BERLIN – A 27-year-old Nigerian man suspected of being a member of Boko Haram and killing people in Nigeria during attacks on schools and a village has been arrested in Germany, the federal prosecutor said on Friday.
The man, named Amaechi Fred O., was detained on Wednesday in Bavaria and a day later a judge issued an arrest warrant and ordered that he be remanded in custody, the chief federal prosecutor said in a statement.
“He is strongly suspected of being a member of the foreign terrorist organization Boko Haram,” the statement reads.
It said Amaechi Fred O. was believed to have joined Boko Haram in 2013 and had admitted to actively taking part in four attacks against Nigerian civilians during his one-year membership of the group.
He is accused of killing several people during two attacks on schools and one attack on a village and taking part in another attack on a village, during which members of Boko Haram took girls as hostages and burned down a church.
Boko Haram has been trying since 2009 to establish an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria, from where it has launched attacks and suicide bombings in Niger, Chad and Cameroon. More than 15,000 people have been killed and millions displaced.