Security
agencies have arrested five men, including a Mauritanian, with links to
Al-Qaeda’s north African branch over the kidnapping of a German
engineer, Edgar Raupach, two security sources said on Tuesday. Raupach
was kidnapped on the outskirts of Kano in January.
Four of the suspects were arrested
during a raid on a store owned by the Mauritanian in Kano last week,
while the fifth was apprehended in a separate raid.
“Guns and a laptop were recovered in the
store and the documents found in the computer, including an AQIM
operation manual, showed that the suspects are linked to AQIM and were
involved in the kidnap of the German engineer in January,” one of the
sources said.
AQIM is the abbreviation for Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb – North Africa’s arm of the extremist group.
AQIM said last week it was holding the
German and that it wanted to swap him for a jailed Muslim woman, a
private news agency in Mauritania said.
The government has come under intense
pressure over the kidnapping as well as the failed bid to rescue an
Italian and a British hostage recently.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the State Security Service, Marilyn Ogar, said she was not aware of the arrests.
Also, gunmen suspected to be members of
the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, on Monday evening, killed the foster
father of its detained spokesman, Abu Qaqa, in Maiduguri, the Borno
State capital.
The foster father, Abdullahi Bello – a
retired prison warder – and the former colleague were killed as they
were preparing for prayers in Maiduguri, the sect’s traditional home.
No comments:
Post a Comment