THE Nigeria Police Force has paraded 22 suspected Boko Haram fighters that had, over the years, unleashed havoc, devastation and destruction of lives and properties in Borno State, North East Nigeria.
Damian Chukwu, Borno State Commissioner of Police, said the suspects were responsible for the series of suicide bombings, mass killings of the innocent and abductions of hundreds of school girls, boys and adults in several states of the Northeast.
Eight of the suspects, according to Chukwu, confessed to have taken part in the abduction of over 200 school girls from Chibok, Borno State, in April 2014. Some of the Chibok girls had escaped from the terrorists’ den, while 82 were released following negotiations between the FG and Boko Haram. However, more than a hundred of the girls remain in captivity; many of them are feared dead.
The suspects include: Mayinta Modu (23yrs), Adam Mohammed (20yrs), Gujja Jidda (21yrs), Mamman Wardi (25yrs), Alhaji Modu Jidda (29yrs), Ajiri Bulama Dungus (22yrs), Mohammed Abba (20yrs), Fannami Mustapha (22yrs).
Also arrested and paraded was Adam Mustapha, 20, a native of Kala-Balge LGA, who is said to be the overall coordinator of suicide bombing missions in Borno and Adamawa States. Mustapha is alleged to be the one who conveys female and male suicide bombers from Sambisa Forest to different locations in Borno and Adamawa States where they detonated their bombs.
Others are: Mustapha Kanumbu (20yrs), Ibrahim Mala (48yrs), Abdullahi Mohammed Gawi (23yrs), Maina Adam (35yrs), Wano Musa (27yrs), Ishaka Musa (26yrs), Abubakar Mohammed (28yrs), Usman Umar (28yrs), Maina Abba (27yrs), Maina Gambo (24yrs), and Abubakar Kori (25yrs).
Chukwu said the arrest of the suspects was as a result of the combined efforts of several police departments, including the Police Mobile Force, the Counter Terrorist Unit, the Explosives and Ordinance Department (EOD), the Police Air Wing, the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (F-SARS), Conventional Police personnel, the Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department (FCIID), the Police Terrorism Investigation Centre, the police detachment attached to Operation Lafiya Dole, and the Intelligence Response Team (IRT).
“Since the inception of the fight against insurgency and acts of terrorism in Northeast Nigeria, especially in Borno State, the Command has not recorded this magnitude of arrests of confessed BH Commanders and foot soldiers in one single operation,” Chukwu said.
“The Force High Command hereby appreciates the cooperation and support of the people of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States in the ongoing fight and the successes being showcased today.
“The renewed commitment of the Nigeria Police Force at preventing and detecting crimes, especially insurgency and other violent crimes such as kidnapping, cattle rustling, armed robbery, suicide bomb attacks across the country remains unwavering.”