Boko Haram: 42 Suspects Arrested in Lagos, Ogun

Some 42 suspected members of the outlawed Boko Haram terrorist group have been arrested in Lagos and Osun States, the Nigerian Army has announced.

Some of the suspects confessed while they were being paraded before journalists Monday in Lagos that they had fled to the South-west following the clampdown on members of the terrorist group in the North-east.

Their parade came a few hours before multiple explosions rocked Kano, the first in three months, which sources said claimed 10 lives.

The federal government had stepped up efforts to dislodge the insurgents from their enclaves in the aftermath of President Goodluck Jonathan’s declaration of emergency rule in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States on May 14.

The emergency rule strengthened the hands of the military to launch attacks and raid suspected hideouts of the terrorist group in the three states with a view to dislodging them.

Some of the dislodged members had fled to the South-west with the hope of forming terror cells in the region, it was learnt Monday.

Parading the suspects Monday at the 81 Division Headquarters, Lagos, the General Officer Commanding (GOC), Major General Obi Umahi, said the suspects were arrested based on intelligence report received from the Army Headquarters in Abuja.

He added that the intelligence report showed that some of the suspects, including those who had participated in the killings of troops engaged in anti-terror war and civilians, had migrated from the North-east to the South-west where they had resorted to menial job that would not attract attention to them.

According to him, army intelligence officers from 81 Division carried out coordinated raids on some major criminal hideouts in Lagos and Ogun States where some of the suspected terrorists were arrested.

The areas raided were Ibafo and Ileke New Trailer Garage in Ogun State as well as Mafoluku, Alaba, Ijora-Badia, Aviation Quarters in Mafoluku-Oshodi, Ketu and Mile 2 Motor Park, Orile Trailer Park, Lekki New Extension and Bar Beach, all in Lagos State.

He said: “In response to intelligence reports on the influx of Boko Haram terrorist elements into Lagos and Ogun States, the command organised and conducted raids, in conjunction with intelligence operatives, on various parts of the two states.

“The Boko Haram terrorist trickling influx is adduced to their plan to unleash terror on some parts of the South-west, which includes 81 Division Area of Responsibility (AOR). Therefore, the raids were conducted from July 12 to 23 on various hideouts in Lagos and Ogun States, which are fast becoming Boko Haram terrorist enclaves.”

He added that after the raid, the suspects were interrogated and they all admitted to being members of the sect who had at one time or the other been part of major deadly Boko Haram operations in the North.

When asked whether arms and weapons were recovered from the suspects, Umahi declined comments, adding that efforts were still on to track and mop up the weapons.

“We do not want to create unnecessary fear in people and make them apprehensive but at the same time, we ask employers of labour to profile their employees and find out their backgrounds,” he added.

He said the suspects would soon be handed over to an unnamed security agency for further investigations and prosecution.

However, the State Security Service (SSS), which a source said might be saddled with the task of carrying out further investigations into the incident, may not be able to accommodate them.

 the service did not have enough cell rooms to accommodate all the 42 suspects.

One of the suspects, who was identified as Hassan Ibrahim, admitted that he and two others were responsible for the death of soldiers and civilians in Maiduguri.

He however stressed that they had since stopped killing after they left their operational base in Maiduguri, adding that they now operate in Lagos as commercial motorcycle riders.

The 22-year-old suspect also admitted recruiting some of the suspects in one of the operations in which a soldier and a civilian were killed in Maiduguri, adding that he went with Ibrahim Ismaila and Alhaji Black.

He said: “I was not the one that pulled the trigger. Alhaji Black did. We went for the operation in a tricycle, which was driven by Ismaila. After we fled Maiduguri, I met them again in Lagos and we have since been riding commercial motorcycles.”

Although Hassan admitted to the part he played, some of the other suspects denied being terrorists, saying they were arrested when the army raided the places they were staying.

The latest arrest of the suspects is coming a few weeks after the Ogun State Police Command announced the arrest of a Boko Haram suspect in the state. Security agents had also in March arrested about 17 suspected Boko Haram members in Lagos.

The SSS, alongside the Operation MESA (OP MESA), a joint collaborative body that comprises the police, the navy, air force and army, had in March stormed the terrorists’ hideout at Ijora-Badia and arrested the armourer and 16 suspected suicide bombers recruited for terrorist campaigns in the South-west.

A large cache of weapons and explosives the sect had imported into Lagos with a plan to simultaneously bomb 16 landmarks in the state, were also recovered.

Shortly after the arrest,  the suspects had relocated to Lagos with the aim of setting up terrorist cells in the South-west.

Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika, had said the suspected terrorists transported the large cache of arms into Lagos by hiding them in fuel tankers to beat security checks.

Meanwhile, members of the sect were suspected to have launched an attack on Kano Monday as multiple explosions rocked the densely populated area of Sabon Gari.

It was the first of such incident in the last three months.
The explosion occurred about 9.10pm through a Mercedes Benz car parked beside a kiosk close to a hotel on Enugu Road by Igbo Road Kano, which was suspected to have been rigged with locally-made bombs.

Although no official casualty figure was available as at press time, sources said 10 persons were feared dead in the incident.

One of the sources said seven of the bodies had been taken to the mortuary of the Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital, Kano.

Scores of people were also wounded in the explosion.
Some fun seekers who came to play snookers and table tennis were the most affected in the explosion.

Spokesman of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF), Lieutenant Ikedichi Iweha, confirmed the explosion but said details would be provided at a later date.