Controversial pro-Biafra separatist and agitator, Simon Ekpa, has been released by the Finnish police hours after he was arrested and grilled.
According to SaharaReporters the Finland authorities on Thursday stormed an apartment in Lahti and picked Ekpa, the self-acclaimed disciple of Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)
The police led the separatist out of his flat in Lahti, according to the Finnish news outlet HS.
The platform said that they went to Ekpa’s house for an interview, but when the HS team rang the separatist ring, the Finland police, KRP, replied.
The HS reported the KRP barred their team from entering Ekpa’s flat and said that the interview will be moved “to the future”.
On February 15, SaharaReporters stated that the Finnish Ambassador to Nigeria, Leena Pylvanainen, expressed displeasure with Simon Ekpa’s directives to his thronging followers to disrupt the upcoming general elections in the West African country.
Pylvanainen stated that the law enforcement agencies were in contact and cooperating together on Ekpa.
Meanwhile, Ekpa was released on Thursday evening after being arrested for a suspected crime in Finland.
The police said that their operation in Lahti, as well as the following arrest of the pro-Biafra agitator, were related to an 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.
When contacted earlier, an official of the Finnish Embassy in Abuja who craves anonymity confirmed Ekpa’s arrest.
“It is our understanding that he is currently in police custody in Finland,”
“According to information available to us, the image is verified by Helsingin Sanomat, a Finnish newspaper; in it, Ekpa is seen being escorted out of his home in Lahti by plainclothes Finnish police”, the official volunteered.
Before his eventual arrest on Thursday, Nigerians all over the world had signed a petition appealing to the Finnish government, Nigerian Government and the European Union to arrest Ekpa, the brain behind the sit-at-home order in the South-East.
His repeated sit-at-home order has been marked by bloodshed and destruction of lives and properties in the region by its enforcers.