Finnish police arrested five suspects on charges of separatism.

HELSINKI, Finland (AP) — Finnish police said Thursday they had detained five suspects in connection with the deadly incident. violence They applied to the court to extend their detention period in southeastern Nigeria.

Police did not identify the suspects, saying only that the dual Finnish-Nigerian citizen, born in the 1980s, was under criminal investigation.

But Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian with links to the Biafran separatist movement, lives in Lahti, where the Päijät-Häme District Court will consider a request from the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation to keep the suspects in custody.

Ekpa is one of the leaders of the separatist Indigenous People of Biafra group, which demands the creation of an independent state of Biafra from Nigeria’s troubled southeastern region.

“Police suspect that the man under investigation furthered his efforts in Finland, leading to violence against civilians and public authorities and other crimes in south-eastern Nigeria,” Detective Chief Inspector Otto Hiltunen said. expression.

Hiltunen said the suspect “carried out this activity, for example, by running campaigns on social media channels.”

The separatist campaign in southeastern Nigeria dates back to the 1960s, when the short-lived Republic of Biafra fought and lost a civil war from 1967 to 1970 to gain independence from the West African country. It is estimated that approximately 1 million people died in the conflict, most of them from starvation.

Nigerian authorities have accused Ekpa of using social media to incite violence among his followers in Nigeria, many of whom are young people.

Finnish police said the investigation involved international cooperation.

Nigerian officials have been contacted for comment.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with at least 210 million people, has been wracked for many years by violence linked to the activities of armed extremist groups. Recently, there have been social protests due to the worsening cost of living crisis and allegations of mismanagement.