Detectives in Britain investigating the murder of a young Nigerian boy whose torso was found in the River Thames in September 2001 arrested 19 people on Tuesday in early morning raids in London, police said.
More than 200 officers, armed with search warrants, burst into nine addresses in east and southeast London, carrying out arrests for immigration and people trafficking offences.
”Searches are continuing,” police commander Andy Baker, who is overseeing of the on-running Adam investigation, said on BBC radio.
Adam is the name given by investigators to the limbless, headless body of a boy that was discovered in the River Thames near London’s famous Tower Bridge in September 2001.
Police suspect he was the victim of a ritual killing after he was brought to the British capital from the vicinity of the southern Nigerian city of Benin.
BBC Online reported that the first 13 people arrested on Tuesday were from the same part of Nigeria, and that police wanted to compare their DNA with Adam’s to see if any were related to him.
A Nigerian man arrested on July 2 in Ireland’s capital Dublin under a German extradition warrant has also been questioned in the Adam case.
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said Tuesday’s raids followed intelligence from detectives on the Adam case ”who believe that he was brought illegally into the United Kingdom”.
On BBC radio, Baker said: ”We are determined to get to the bottom of who killed Adam — and who Adam is… I don’t know when we will get to the bottom of it, but we will keep trying.” – Sapa-AFP