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Suspect in cannibalistic murder returns to Canada

Updated: 2012-06-19 12:53
( Agencies)

Suspect in cannibalistic murder returns to Canada

Porn movie actor Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, accused of killing a Chinese student, Jun Lin, and sending his feet and hands in the mail to the offices of two Canadian political parties and two Vancouver schools, is escorted off a plane from Germany by Montreal police in Mirabel, June 18, 2012 in this handout photo. Magnotta, who is accused of first-degree murder, was arrested in a cyber cafe in Berlin two weeks ago.[Photo/Agencies]

MIRABEL, Quebec - A porn movie actor accused of first-degree murder in connection with the killing, dismembering and cannibalizing of a Chinese student in Montreal was flown back to Canada on Monday from Germany, where he was arrested.

Canadian suspect Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, accused of killing a Chinese student, Jun Lin, and sending his feet and hands in the mail to the offices of two Canadian political parties and two Vancouver schools, was deported two weeks after his arrest in a Berlin cyber cafe.

Magnotta did not fight extradition to Canada.

A Canadian military plane carrying Magnotta, in the custody of six Montreal police officers, touched down at Montreal-Mirabel International Airport, 34 miles (55 km) northwest of downtown Montreal at about 7 pm EDT (2300 GMT).

The airport is used almost exclusively for cargo flights, and police made no apologies when asked why the government used the military to help bring the suspect back to Canada.

"I'm going to reverse the question. How can we bring him back to Montreal on a commercial flight with other people on board? That wasn't a hard one (to decide)," Montreal police spokesman Ian Lafreniere told reporters at the airport.

Lafreniere said the suspect's hands and feet were cuffed while he was onboard the aircraft. "He was very quiet; the return went very well," Lafreniere said in French.

Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson thanked Germany for its "swift and decisive action" in extraditing Magnotta, who was to be taken to a Montreal prison.  

"Our government's cooperation with the international community has led to this individual being swiftly returned to face justice," he said in a statement.

Police said they would bring the suspect to an undisclosed detention center and investigators would begin questioning him either Monday evening or Tuesday morning.

Magnotta, arrested in Berlin under an international warrant, would be formally charged for the first time under the Canadian justice system at the Court of Quebec in Montreal on Tuesday.

The spokesman, who said Magnotta had not yet asked for an attorney, could not confirm whether the suspect would appear in person before a judge.

In addition to first-degree murder, charges will include interfering with a dead body, mailing obscene materials, publication of obscenity and criminal harassment of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

DNA tests have linked the mailed hands and feet with that of a decomposing torso found stuffed into a suitcase in an alley near Magnotta's Montreal apartment, police said.

The victim's head has not been found.

Police found a bloody mattress and pools of blood on the floor and in the refrigerator of Magnotta's apartment.

They have linked the murder to an online video showing a man stabbing another man repeatedly and then cutting off his arms, legs and head before eating part of the body.

Police have said Magnotta and Lin knew each other.

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