Sallah: DSS Raises Alert Over Plan to Attack Parks, Worship Centres

The Department of State Service (DSS), has raised the alarm over plans by extremist groups to attack public and worship centres across the country during the Sallah celebration.

In a statement signed on Friday by Mr. Tony Opuiyo, it also disclosed that they have arrested some suspected IPOB leaders and members of the various insurgent groups, including an ally of Government Ekpemudo, a.k.a Tompolo, as well as kidnap kingpins.

“Also, this Service wishes to alert the general public to be wary of suspicious packages and persons, as celebration of the Eid-el-Fitr approaches.

“The Service is availed of intelligence which indicates threat by extremist elements to attack selected locations across the Federation, particularly parks and congregations of worshippers, in order to further their cause,” Opuiyo stated.

He noted that some “States of the of the Federation have witnessed a spate of kidnapping incidents perpetrated by criminal elements in a bid to further their selfish pecuniary and/or criminal interests”.

“In furtherance of security measures initiated to checkmate this trend, series of special tactical operations were carried out by this Service, where successful arrests of masterminds of these criminal gangs were made by the Service, while their hide-outs were decimated.”

According to him, the measures being put in place have yielded results, especially in a bid to stem the activities of vandals in the Niger Delta, with the arrest of one Selky Kile Torughedi, on  June 17, 2016, in Calabar, Cross River State.

He claimed that Torughedi is an ex-militant and suspected member of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), and was arrested for planning to assassinate one MB Yahaya, a serving military officer.

“Torughedi, who is a close associate of Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo), had already conducted surveillance at the residence of Yahaya in Kaduna, preparatory to his plot when he was intercepted. He is also fingered as a sponsor of pipeline vandalism in some States in the South-South region. Suspect is currently assisting the Service with critical leads,” he stated.

In a related operation, Opuiyo said that the Nigerian secret police also arrested one Christian Oluba, who is acknowledged and known as ‘Sensor’, another suspected militant with the NDA. He said that ‘Sensor’ was arrested while perfecting plans to carry out explosive attacks on critical oil and gas pipelines, including critical storage points.

He said that “sequel to the increasing threat posed to public peace by the activities of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB), this Service arrested one Chidiebere Onwudiwe, a graduate of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering and known member of IPOB, on June 22, 2016”.

He claimed that Onwudiwe and his associates within and outside the country, were planning to carry out coordinated attacks against religious bodies/edifices, Police-Check Points and the computer village in Ikeja, Lagos State, with Improvised Explosive devices (IEDS).

“The suspect was apprehended while making logistics supplies for their nefarious plan,” he said.