Six of the 100 suspected Boko Haram members
declared wanted by the army have been
arrested in Lagos.
Ibrahim Ali, Abubakar Ahmed, Goigoi Kamsalem,
Ibrahim Mohammed, Banagana Blam Ali and
Adam were arrested last Friday by vigilantes.
According to the Nation, the Seriki Hausawa in
Ijora, Alhaji Mustapha Mohammed, said Adam
was arrested inside a 40-foot container in an
abandoned container inside a church in Festac
Town.
Mohammed, who heads the vigilance group,
known as the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF),
said Ali
and Blam were arrested during a raid of
suspected terrorists’ hideout at Isheri; Ahmed,
Kamsalem and Mohammed were nabbed on
Victoria Island, where they were staying with
friends.
Mohammed said the suspects have been
transferred to Borno State, where they are
wanted by the military, adding that they looked
unkempt and hungry when they were arrested.
He said:
“We got an intelligence report that Adam
was hiding inside an abandoned 40-foot
container on a church premises. It was
the security man attached to the church
that hid him inside the container.
When we arrived on the church
premises, we headed straight to where
the container was kept. The security
man attached to the church was not
around then. The container was locked
from the outside with a padlock. The
pastor of the church was embarrassed
to see us, but by the time we explained
our mission to him, he along with others
stood aside to see and by the time we
broke the padlock, Adam was hiding in
the far corner of the container. As soon
as the pastor sighted the suspect, he
started singing praises.”
Mohammed said his group would protect Lagos
from the Boko Haram menace.
He said his group started operation in the state
in 2011, adding that Boko Haram would have hit
some strategic installations and buildings, if not
for the vigilantes.
Those arrested in the past by his group, he
said, were handed over to the Department of
State Services (DSS) in Shangisha, the
Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG)
Zone two or the police commissioner.
“You know we are from Borno State
where these people also come from and
we know their communities. Our people
back home do monitor them, and once
they leave Maiduguri, we would be
alerted so that we can be on the
lookout.
“Once they arrive in any community in
Lagos, our members are always on
ground to fish them out based on
intelligence report and once they are
arrested, we hand them over to security
agencies for further investigation and
prosecution,” he said.
Comments