Irish police arrested a Nigerian man on Wednesday in connection with discovery of the dismembered torso of a boy found floating in the Thames in London in 2001.
The ”torso murder” caused an international outcry. London police believe the murdered boy, who has been given the name Adam for the purposes of the investigation, was brought into Britain to be ritually killed.
Experts from African countries were called in to help with the investigation.
The 37-year-old Nigerian, Sam Onojhighovie, was arrested in the Irish capital under a German extradition warrant. He is is wanted in Germany where he has been
convicted in his absence and sentenced to seven years for offences linked to human trafficking. The red shorts he was wearing when he was found were of German origin.
The torso of Adam, aged between four and six, was found near London’s Tower Bridge in September 2001, and forensic tests suggested he came from a rural area in south-west Nigeria.
The tests showed he was alive when he arrived in London, but police believe he was murdered soon afterwards.
Detectives have travelled to Nigerian villages where they made house-to-house inquiries to try to find his parents, and South African statesman Nelson Mandela also appealed for information.
Police arrested a woman in Glasgow in July last year in connection with the case, but she was later released on bail and deported to Nigeria.
Onojhighovie appeared in court on Thursday for an extradition hearing and was ordered to be held in police custody until he is called back to court at an undisclosed date. He is also being questioned by British police in connection with their own inquiry into death of the boy .- Sapa-DPA