South African police have raided the prison cell of a man accused of orchestrating deadly bombings in Nigeria after authorities there said he had threatened new attacks, media said Thursday.
Police seized cell phones, chargers, a map and papers with phone numbers on them from the cell of Nigerian national Henry Okah, who is facing trial on terrorism charges for allegedly masterminding the Independence Day bombings in Abuja that killed 12 people in October last year, the Pretoria News reported.
The Tuesday evening raid came after Nigerian authorities alerted the South African government that Okah had been calling officials in Nigeria from his prison cell and making threats about new attacks being planned by the militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the newspaper said.
“Information in our possession indicates that he allegedly made several threatening phone calls to the Nigerian president,” an unnamed prison source told the newspaper.
“In these phone calls, which we believe he made from the pre-paid cell phones we seized, he is alleged to have verbally abused several senior Nigerian government officials, including the president.
“He is also believed to have told them about further terror attacks MEND is believed to have been planning on carrying out.”
Okah’s lawyer, Rudi Krause, was not immediately available to respond to the report.
South African prosecutors say Okah is the leader of rebel group MEND, an allegation he has denied.
MEND, which claims to be fighting for a fairer distribution of oil revenue in Nigeria’s impoverished but petroleum-rich Delta region, claimed responsibility for the Independence Day attacks.
Okah was arrested at his home in Johannesburg on October 2 last year, the day after the twin car bombs were detonated.
He has twice failed to get bail, with the courts saying he has failed to prove he is not the group’s leader.
He has denied organising the October 1 attacks and accused the Nigerian government of fabricating evidence against him.
The former marine engineer won a court order to be placed in a private cell at a Johannesburg prison after raising concerns about his safety.
His court appearances have drawn groups of supporters who display banners and wear t-shirts with slogans calling for his release.
Feb252011