Muslim Mohammed Yusuf, the youngest son of Boko Haram’s founder has been arrested by Chadian security forces.
According to intelligence sources and former insurgents familiar with the development, he was detained alongside five other suspects.
A Nigerian intelligence officer in the Lake Chad region told AFP that the group operated as a six-man jihadist cell.
Security officials in Chad confirmed the arrest of six Boko Haram members but did not identify any of them as the son of Mohammed Yusuf, the radical preacher who founded the Islamist sect in Nigeria before he died in 2009.
“The team was headed by a Muslim, the youngest son of the late Boko Haram founder,” the source said.
He explained that the faction was tied to the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a rival splinter group that broke away from Boko Haram over ideological disputes.
The officer further noted that Yusuf was still an infant when his father was killed in a 2009 military crackdown that left about 800 people dead. He estimated Yusuf’s current age at 18.
Photos obtained after the arrests in Chad show a young, slender man in a blue tracksuit, standing beside older suspects.
The man bears a strong resemblance to Yusuf, who reportedly goes by the alias Abdrahman Mahamat Abdoulaye.
He is also the younger brother of Habib Yusuf, better known as Abu Mus’ab Al-Barnawi, the leader of ISWAP.
A former lieutenant of Mohammed Yusuf, who has renounced Boko Haram but retains knowledge of the group’s structure, also confirmed the arrest.
“He and the team were arrested by Chadian security. They are six in number,” the source said.
Chadian police spokesperson Paul Manga told AFP from N’djamena that officers had arrested “bandits who operate in the city… they are undocumented, they are members of Boko Haram.” He clarified that the arrests occurred “a few months ago.”