“He has been before the judge, who has confirmed the arrest,” said Martin Steltner, spokesman for the Berlin public prosecutor’s office. “He said he would not fight the extradition.”

Magnotta will now be moved from a police cell to prison. “We will see what the extradition process will bring,” said Steltner, suggesting it would be faster and easier without opposition.

Police in Berlin picked up Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, at an internet cafe on Monday after a week-long hunt across the Atlantic from Canada to France before reaching Germany.

“Mr. Magnotta has been arrested in Berlin, Germany on an Interpol Red notice which under German law constitutes a provisional request from Canada for his extradition,” justice ministry spokeswoman Julie Di Mambro said in a statement.

“Pursuant to the Canada-Germany Treaty on extradition, Canada has to now submit a formal request for his extradition accompanied by documentation outlining the evidence supporting the request,” she said.

The case came to light after body parts were posted to political party offices in Ottawa. Interpol had issued the Red Notice wanted-persons alert for Magnotta, also known as Eric Clinton Newman and Vladimir Romanov, to its 190 member countries.

Canadian authorities believe he murdered a Chinese student with an ice pick and hacked apart his body while filming the grisly scene. Initial reports said the victim, 33-year-old Lin Jun, was Magnotta’s lover, but Chinese media reports Tuesday quoted Lin’s friends as saying they were not in a relationship.

Magnotta was arrested in a busy Berlin high street on Monday afternoon after an employee of the internet cafe recognized him from media reports and flagged down a passing police bus filled with trainee officers and their instructors.

Video from the cafe’s security cameras circulating in the German media shows the police walking in, and then leading out Magnotta.

“At 1:30pm, a witness stopped a police car in the Karl Marx Strasse and said that he had recognised a criminal in an internet cafe. … Officers then went directly to the cafe,” the prosecutor spokesman said.

They had little difficulty overpowering and arresting the suspect. Magnotta offered little resistance, saying simply, “You got me,” a police spokesman reported.

AFP/bk