Police comb Lagos, Abuja for Boko Haram members

A Joint Task Force team comprising the personnel of the police, Department of State Services, the military and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps has been combing the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos and other towns for Boko Haram suspects and their sponsors.

It was learnt that the Task Force, which was set up by the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, had been mandated to carry out massive operations against the sect members who were suspected to have infiltrated different parts of the country.

The DSS had on Friday, arraigned in court, about 45 terror suspects who were arrested for plotting to bomb Dolphin Estate in Lagos. The suspects were subsequently remanded in KiriKiri prisons by an Isolo Magistrate Court.

As part of the operation to apprehend fleeing terror suspects, the Task Force last Wednesday, raided a black spot at Nyanya, a satellite town in the FCT, where it arrested about 30 suspects.

Nyanya and Kuje, FCT recorded twin bomb blasts on October 2, 2015, in which about 20 people lost their lives and many others were injured.

Our correspondent gathered that the Task Force was ‘processing the suspects’ after which identified terrorists among them would be made to face the law.

The Force Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Kolawole, told our correspondent on Saturday that the Task Force was set up to go after fleeing Boko Haram insurgents, adding that the team has been carrying out operations in different parts of the country.

She cited the operation at Nyanya operation as one of the activities of the team, adding that it was based on intelligence reports.

Kolawole explained that the operation was part of strategies to prevent the committing of crime by criminal elements in the FCT, adding that the raid to apprehend terrorists would continue nationwide.

“The Task Force was set up by the IG to go after fleeing Boko Haram members and their sympathisers and supporters wherever they may be found. The team has started working and its operations are yielding fruits already as they have been able to apprehend some criminal elements who are being processed, as we speak,” she stated.

She added that the IG had also set up a special intelligence team tasked with getting intelligence and information on terror plots in the country.

It was learnt that the intelligence team successfully arrested the masterminds of the Nyanya and Kuje bombings, five of whom were picked up in different parts of the FCT in Iddo village and Karamajiji, along Airport Road, and Gaulaka area in Suleja, Niger State.

The suspects—Abdulazeez Muhazab, Ishaka Salihu, Mohammed Jimoh, Abdulwaheed Nasiru and Abdullahi Nasiru were arraigned at the Federal High Court, Abuja last Thursday on five-count charges bordering on terrorism, conspiracy, accessory to acts of terrorism and act preparatory to an act of terrorism.