The police in Finland have arrested Simon Ekpa, the self styled leader of the terrorist outfit Eastern Security Network (ESN) on suspicion that Ekpa from Lahti area of Finland has contributed to violence and crimes against civilians in South-Eastern Nigeria.
The Central Criminal Police demanded the arrest of five people suspected of terrorist crimes. Demands for imprisonment will be discussed today, Thursday, in the district court of Päijät-Häme.
One of the suspects is Simon Ekpa. In the past, it has been public knowledge that the police suspect him of the crime of collecting money.
“The police suspect that the man has promoted his efforts from Finland with means that have led to violence against civilians and authorities as well as other crimes in the region of South-Eastern Nigeria. The man has carried out this activity, among other things, on his social media channels,” says the head of the investigation, crime commissioner Otto Hiltunen of the Central Criminal Police.
On Thursday, the police ordered Simon Ekpa to be detained with probable cause on suspicion of public incitement to commit a crime with terrorist intent.
The police want four more people to be arrested for financing the crime of terrorism.
The police do not elaborate on the content of the suspected crime in the press release.
Ekpa’s suspected crime would have taken place between August 23, 2021 and November 18, 2024 in Lahti, based on the district court’s coercive information.
For the other four, the suspected financing of the crime of terrorism would have taken place in August 2022, also in Lahti. The other four suspects are persons with a foreign background born in the 1970s or 1960s.
All five suspects were arrested during the first week. The police say that during the preliminary investigation, they had international cooperation.
Previously, it has been reported publicly that the police suspect Ekpa of the crime of collecting money.
Helsingin Sanomat newspaper reported in February 2023 that the police arrested Ekpa at that time in a private apartment in Lahti. HS’s cameraman witnessed how plainclothes police escorted Ekpa out of the apartment building in Lahti. Before this, the reporter of HS, who was going to interview Ekpa, had run into the officers of the Central Criminal Police in the crab of Ekpa’s residence.
The suspect was then released later that evening after questioning.
The police also announced in February 2023 that they had received several contacts about the suspect’s activities on social media. In this regard, the police began to find out if there was any reason to suspect Ekpa of other crimes as well.
Ekpa is known in Finland as the local politician of the coalition. He has worked as a member of the coalition as a deputy councilor and represented his party in the public transport board of the Lahti region.
Ekpa has been an influential actor in the separatist movement of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and pushed for the independence of Biafra, located in southeastern Nigeria. He has previously urged people on social media to boycott the presidential elections held in Nigeria and said that he is fighting for the independence of Biafra from his home in Lahti.
The newspaper Etelä-Suomen Sanomat reported last year that Ekpa “is not hiding the fact that he is participating in the elimination of the government’s people.” He even leads the operation and acquires weapons”.
HS earlier reported that Ekpa has publicly claimed to have deputized the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) separatist movement, Nnamdi Kanu , after he was arrested. He has also claimed to command IPOB’s armed wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN). However, some of those claiming to be members of IPOB or ESN have accused Ekpa of lying and misusing Kanu’s name.
The Nigerian administration was earlier worried that Ekpa’s actions could even jeopardize the country’s elections. Nigeria asked Finland to intervene in Ekpa’s activities. In February 2023, the Nigerian foreign minister invited the Finnish ambassador to a meeting because of the topic.
Jussi Nummelin, the team leader for Western and Central Africa at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, told HS at the time that Finland shares the concern for security and condemns violence and incitement to it, as well as “actions that aim to prevent people from exercising their democratic rights”.
HS has not reached Ekpa to comment on the matter.
