THE arrest of a terrorist who claimed to be a Cameroonian and an arms courier for the dreaded Boko Haram sect has led to the discovery of a large cache of arms and ammunition hidden on the premises of a burnt church in Borno State.
The weapons, which have now been recovered by troops, include anti-aircraft guns, Rocket-Propelled Grenades (RPGs) as well as General-Purpose and other brands of machine guns. They were found buried in the premises of one of the churches earlier burnt by terrorists in Kalabalge Local Government Area of Borno State.
Major-General Chris Olukolade, the Director of Defence Information, who is on an operational tour of the troubled areas in the North-East, in company with the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Kenneth Minimah, and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adeshola Amosu, said in a statement that the troops also recovered from the location thousands of rounds of ammunition and links.
According to him, the middle-aged terrorist, who was one of those captured in recent raids, disclosed during interrogation that the weapons were stockpiled to be used in a pending attack on some communities around Nigeria-Cameroon border.
Olukolade disclosed that the weapons have all been evacuated, while guard locations and patrols are being maintained in the general area and surrounding localities.
He added that troops on Friday continued with various operations assigned to the formations involved in the counter-terrorist campaigns, and that “the caves of a particular mountain captured overnight is undergoing a thorough search for terrorists who are believed to have fled there in the wake of the ongoing offensive on various terrorist enclaves.”
Meanwhile, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Kenneth Minima, has been checking on deployment and troops’ disposition in various locations of the counter-terrorist campaign in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.
The army chief, who was in company of his Airforce counterpart, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu, also visited troops who have been wounded in the course of the operation so far in the Military Hospital, Maiduguri.
The military chiefs were assured by the Commander of the hospital, Brig-General Okeke, that most of the wounded soldiers were in stable condition and that some who have recovered very well have expressed their desire to rejoin their units and colleagues in the operation.
Source: Tribune
