Canadian murder suspect Luka Rocco Magnotta arrested in Berlin

A 29-year-old Canadian porn actor accused of videotaping a killing and
mailing the victim's body parts to the country's top political parties
has been arrested in Germany, officials in both countries said.

Luka Rocco Magnotta was apprehended today in an internet cafe in Berlin after a person recognised him and alerted police, Berlin police spokeswoman Kerstin Ziesmer said.

The owner of the cafe, in Berlin's working-class Neukoelln district, told The Associated Press that Magnotta had come in to read news reports about himself when one of his employees recognised him.

"A colleague recognised him from his photo, because he'd just read the newspaper," said the owner.

He said the police happened to be outside at the time, and the employee alerted them and they arrested Magnotta at about 2pm without difficulty.

"Nothing happened, it all went very quietly," he said.

Magnotta is wanted by Canadian authorities on first-degree murder and other charges. He is suspected of killing Jun Lin — a 33-year-old Chinese university student he dated — and mailing Lin's body parts to Canadian political parties.

Julie Carmichael, a spokeswoman for Canada's Public Safety Minister, confirmed the arrest.

"We expect that the individual responsible for these troubling acts will face the full force of the law," she said.

The suspect is now being questioned, and will be brought before a judge behind closed doors who will read out the international arrest warrant later, Ziesmer said.

"He says he is the wanted person," she added, while cautioning that his identity must still be independently confirmed by German authorities.

Magnotta is believed to have fled to France on May 26 based on evidence police found at his apartment, and he had been placed on Interpol's most-wanted list.

The case began last Tuesday, when a package containing a severed foot was opened at the ruling Conservative Party headquarters. A hand was discovered at a postal facility, addressed to the Liberal party of Canada. A torso was found in a suitcase on a garbage dump in Montreal, outside Magnotta's apartment building.

Police suspect Magnotta filmed the murder. The video, posted online, shows a man stabbing another man with an ice pick while the victim lies naked and tied up. The first man later reveals he has slashed the other man's throat. He also dismembers the corpse and performs sexual acts with it.

An online video also shows a man who looks like Magnotta committing violent acts against kittens. The video contains at least one photo made available by Montreal police that identified the man as Magnotta.

For nearly two years, animal-rights activists have been looking for a man who tortured and killed cats and posted videos of it online.
Police said Magnotta's birth name is Eric Clinton Newman and that he is also known by the name Vladimir Romanov, and they described him as white and 5 feet 8 inches tall with blue eyes and black hair.

AP