A Mauritanian and four other men were arrested yesterday in Kano over the January kidnapping of a German near the city, reports said quoting security sources and witnesses.
?Guns and a laptop were recovered in the store and the documents found in the computer, including an AQIM operation manual, showed that the suspects are linked to AQIM (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) and were involved in the kidnap of the German engineer in January,? one of the sources said in describing the supermarket raid.
A BBC Hausa report monitored last night quoted a witness describing the supermarket raid, saying policemen came to the shop and arrested some men, including a North African Arab man who was known to people in the area.
The witness said no gun shots were fired during the operation.
German engineer Edgar Raupach was kidnapped on the outskirts of Kano in January, where he was working for the Dantata & Sawoe Construction Company.
AQIM said last week it was holding the German and that it wanted to swap him for a jailed Muslim woman, a private news agency in Mauritania said.
A video obtained by the ANI agency showed Raupach, his hands tied behind his back, surrounded by masked gunmen.
Germany has confirmed one of its nationals was kidnapped in northern Nigeria, and the German construction company Bilfinger Berger has said he is one of their employees.
?The arrests are an important lead that could help in resolving the kidnapping of the German,? one of the security sources told AFP.
The initial raid on the store was carried out on suspicion that the suspects were tied to Boko Haram, but investigations after the arrests led authorities to suspect they were linked to the kidnap, the sources said.
The second source, speaking of the Mauritanian, said ?he turned the upper floor of his store into a hideout where he housed his three Nigerian accomplices.?
Nigerian authorities have come under intense pressure over the kidnapping as well as violence blamed on Boko Haram. They also faced criticism after a failed bid to rescue an Italian and a British hostage earlier this month in Sokoto.
The British and Italian hostages, who were abducted May last year in Birnin Kebbi, were killed by their captors before they could be rescued in a joint operation with British security forces on March 8.
Nigerian authorities blamed the kidnap of the British and the Italian on a faction of Boko Haram, which had not been previously known to carry out abductions. A purported Boko Haram spokesman denied any involvement.
A security source however had offered an explanation that implicated the group by association, alleging that the mastermind was a man named Abu Muhammad who was affiliated with AQIM and Boko Haram.
The source said the kidnappings were aimed at collecting ransoms which could be used to finance Boko Haram activities, and that in return Abu Muhammad would be given security cover by the group to carry out further abductions.
Abu Muhammad died in SSS custody after being wounded in a raid which led to his arrest in Zaria on March 6, the State Security Service said.
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