Chadian security forces have arrested the 18-year-old son of late Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf.
Zagazola Makama revealed that the juvenile militant, known as Abdrahman Yusuf, was caught alongside five other jihadists during a coordinated operation by Chadian security forces.
According to sources, he was the leader of a six-man terrorist cell affiliated with the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a Boko Haram breakaway unit.
Zagazola obtained images of a tiny, slim boy dressed in a blue tracksuit who bore a striking likeness to his father and stood among a group of significantly older captives.
According to intelligence sources, Abdrahman is the younger brother of the current ISWAP leader, Habib Yusuf, also known as Abu Mus’ab Al-Barnawi. While Chadian authorities confirmed the arrest of six suspected Boko Haram/ISWAP members, they declined to provide specific information on their identities.
Mohammed Yusuf, the founder of Boko Haram, was apprehended by Nigerian authorities and slain in police custody in Maiduguri on July 30, 2009. His son, who was apparently born in Nigeria before the conflict began, is thought to have been indoctrinated with extremism from a young age.
He has lately climbed in the ISWAP ranks, becoming a field commander in the Lake Chad region.
“He and his squad were detained by Chadian security forces. They number six in total. “He was in charge of the cell,” a source confirmed.
The arrest has been hailed as a significant step forward in the continuing regional campaign to dismantle extremist networks operating across the Lake Chad Basin.
