DSS arrests sect's bomb specialist who tried to join the army

dimeji akinloye

September 4, 2016 8:36 PM

The security service said it also arrested some gangs of kidnappers and armed robbers across the country.

The Department of State Services (DSS) has arrested a suspected bomb specialist of Boko Haram,

In a statement signed by its operative, Tony Opuiyo, the DSS said two high-profile members of the sect were intercepted during a military operation in Kano State.

The statement said: “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).

“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.”

“On 22 August, 2016, one Samuel Asuquo, a kidnap kingpin, was arrested by the service at Nasarawa Bakoko village in Cross River state,” it said.

“Asuquo was the mastermind of the kidnap of three Australian staff of Lafarge Cement Company, for which his gang received ransom of 150m.

“Similarly, on 30 August, 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."

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It said the gang had earlier kidnapped five Igbo women and collected the sum of N13m as ransom, adding that they were arrested while planning a high profile kidnap in Abuja.

dimeji akinloye