Accused 'Master of Mutilation' charged with supporting Cameroon separatist groups

A federal grand jury has indicted a Maryland man on charges of making threatening communications to kidnap and injure Cameroon citizens, federal prosecutors announced Friday.

A federal grand jury has indicted a Maryland man on charges of making threatening communications to kidnap and injure Cameroon citizens and providing material support to separatist groups, federal prosecutors announced Friday.

Eric Tataw, 38, of Gaithersburg, who allegedly refers to himself as the “Garri master,” a term he coined referring to mutilation, ordered violent groups to murder, kidnap and maim civilians as part of a separatist campaign against the Cameroonian government, prosecutors said.

A Cameroonian national, Tataw surrendered and was set to make his initial court appearance on Friday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland said.

“The defendant is alleged to have ordered horrific acts of violence, including severing limbs, against Cameroonian civilians in support of a violent secessionist movement,” said Matthew Galeotti, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, in the news release.

Tataw allegedly referred to the dismemberment as “Garriing,” using the phrase “small Garri” for smaller appendages and “large Garri” for limbs or murder, prosecutors said.