The youngest son of Boko Haram’s late founder, Mohammed Yusuf, has reportedly been arrested in Chad, where he is alleged to have led a jihadist cell.
Sources, including a Nigerian intelligence officer in the Lake Chad region and a former insurgent familiar with the group’s operations, confirmed the arrest of Muslim Mohammed Yusuf, along with five other suspected militants.
Chadian police acknowledged the detention of six Boko Haram members but stopped short of confirming the identity of Yusuf as the late extremist leader’s son.
“The team was headed by Muslim, the youngest son of the late Boko Haram founder,” an intelligence source disclosed, adding that the group is affiliated with the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a faction that broke away from Boko Haram over ideological differences.
Yusuf, believed to be about 18 years old, was only an infant when his father was killed in a 2009 military crackdown that left nearly 800 people dead. Photos obtained after the arrests in Chad show a slender young man in a blue tracksuit, bearing a striking resemblance to the late Boko Haram leader, standing alongside older detainees.
The suspect, also known by the alias Abdrahman Mahamat Abdoulaye, is said to be the younger brother of ISWAP leader Habib Yusuf, better known as Abu Mus’ab Al-Barnawi.
A former lieutenant of Mohammed Yusuf, who has since denounced the group, also confirmed the arrest, stating: “He and the team were arrested by Chadian security. They are six in number.”
Chadian police spokesman Paul Manga, speaking from N’Djamena, described those detained as “bandits” and “undocumented” Boko Haram members, noting that the arrests occurred “a few months ago.”
Nigerian counter-terrorism authorities and intelligence services have not yet commented on the development.
