The Finnish Central Criminal Police has confirmed the release of popular pro-Biafra separatist agitator Simon Ekpa.
Ekpa, a factional leader of the Nigerian proscribed separatist group the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), was arrested on Thursday, according to a report by BBC Igbo.
The report quoted a journalist with Finland national news agency Helsingin Sanomat, Matilta Jokinen, who said Ekpa is in the custody of security operatives.
The police on Thursday claimed Ekpa’s arrest was in connection with the ongoing preliminary investigation.
“The person being questioned today is suspected of a crime. We will return to the title on Friday,” Tommi Reen from the Central Criminal Police told HS during a phone interview.
Simon Ekpa had been arrested by the police in his residence in the Lahti area of the country, a Finnish paper Helsingin Sanomat reported Thursday.
The separatist has repeatedly declared that there will be no elections in the South-East region of the country and insisted on the observance of a sit-at-home every Monday in the area to protest the detention of the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu.
The sit-at-home order in the Southeast has been linked the killings in the area.
But IPOB has since disowned the Finland-based Ekpa who was reportedly billed for an interview before his arrest.