DSS Nabs Boko Haram IED Specialist, Others in Kano

• Arrests over 20 top criminals nationwide

Senator Iroegbu in Abuja

The Department of State Service (DSS) has arrested a high profile Boko Haram member as well as an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) specialist in Kano, and 20 other members of criminal gang across the country.

The DSS said in a statement signed in Sunday by Mr. Tony Opuiyo that as part of its commitment towards improving security across the country, it has “sustained tactical and counter-terrorism operations which have yielded major successes with the arrest of terrorists and other criminals across the country”.

Opuiyo stated: “In response to the regrouping of Boko Haram elements in Kano State, the Service in concert with the military, carried out coordinated operations in the State which led to the apprehension of two high profile members of the sect, namely Ibrahim Ustaz Abubakar and Idris Audu (aka AYA).

According to him, Audu is an IED specialist who was being groomed to penetrate security agencies in the country.

“Audu had already perfected plans to seek for recruitment into the next recruitment scheme of the Nigeria Army, before his arrest,” he revealed.

In the same vein, he said that the Service on August 22, 2016, nabbed a kidnap kingpin named Samuel Asuquo, at Nasarawa Bakoko village in Cross River State.

He stated that Asuquo was the mastermind of the kidnap of three Australian staff of Lafarge Cement Company, for which his gang received ransom of N150m.

Similarly, he said, on August 30, 2016, the trio of Bamaiyi Mustapha (aka Dan Borno), Aminu Isa and Hassan Shehu, members of a notorious kidnap gang operating around the Abuja-Kaduna axis, were arrested at Lafia, Nasarawa State.

Opuiyo said that the gang had earlier kidnapped five Igbo women and collected the sum of Thirteen Million Naira (N13m) as ransom, adding that “they were subsequently arrested by the Service while planning a high profile kidnap in Abuja”.

He noted that the Nigerian Secret Police, had in another operation carried out on August 30, at Tamburawa village along Kano-Zaria Expressway, Kano State, apprehended members of a notorious kidnap/armed robbery syndicate operating from Falgore forest in Doguwa LGA, Kano State, including Alhassan Musa and Ado Yusuf.

On August 19, 2016, he said that two kidnappers, Abdulrasheed Ibrahim and Aliyu Umar, who have been operating in Zamfara and its environs, were arrested. He said the duo had been terrorizing residents of the area along with a kidnap group headed by Buhari General who is still at large.

Part of the statement read: “Also, on August 26, 2016, two notorious kidnappers, armed robbers and assassins; Moses Achia and Fanen Igbetar, were arrested at Kperlegba Village, Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue State. One AK-47 rifle, five fully loaded AK-47 magazines, one hundred and fifty rounds of live ammunition and one pistol loaded with fifteen rounds of live ammunition were recovered from them. The syndicate had planned to kidnap a female business tycoon in Makurdi, Benue State.

“On September 3, 2016, a kidnapping gang under the coordination of one Sunny Isaac/late, which has been terrorizing residents in States of the South-East zone, was busted by the Service at Aba in Abia State. Prior to their arrest, the gang had masterminded series of kidnapping incidents in the State, including the abduction of one Uche Ikonne/f, an American citizen in the State. Other members of the gang arrested by the Service include Nnaoma Amak, Chiedozie Ebere, Bartholomew Michael, Chinweotito Innocent and Celestine Ikarangwan, while the following items were recovered on them during the time of arrest; the sum of Four Hundred Thousand Naira only (N400,000.00), a Double-Barrel gun with two (2) live ammunition, a Toyota-Corolla car, a Volkswagen Golf car, and the mobile cellphone of the Ikonne/f.”

“In another development, this Service has arrested one Abbas Mohammed at Asokoro, Abuja. Subject was sending several threat messages to the Ukranian Ambassador to Nigeria. Preliminary investigation revealed that Mohammed was formerly employed by the embassy as a driver but he began threatening his former employer after losing his job arising from observed gross acts of insubordination from him to his employers.

“On the economic front, this Service is currently intensifying action against high level fraudsters whose unwholesome activities are negatively affecting investors’ confidence with multiplier risk to genuine businesses nationwide.”