Security operatives have discovered a cell phone on the corpse of a Boko Haram sect detainee who was among the 21 suspects killed on Sunday, during the crossfire between State Security Services, SSS personnel and insurgents at the agency’s headquarters in Abuja.
Nigerian Pilot gathered that the suspect was having the cell phone on him at the time he was killed.
Security officials, who expressed shock over the incident, noted that such high calibre terror suspects are always denied access to luxuries such as mobile telephones, television sets, newspapers and other communication devices while in detention.
It was learnt that one of the soldiers who assisted the SSS to foil the attack, which the Department of State Security, DSS, described as an attempted jailbreak, heard a GSM phone ringing where one of the dead insurgents was lying and picked it up.
No fewer than 21 persons, including 18 insurgents were killed during the attack. DSS spokesman, Marilyn Ogar, said three of the victims were civilians while the injured included SSS operatives.
Prior to the attack, Nigerian Pilot learnt that 100 insurgents were said to be detained in SSS bunkers.
A security operative who pleaded anonymity said it was in the process of “neutralisng” the terrorists, that “we found a cell phone ringing on one of the bodies. During the gun battle we heard a mobile phone ringing. And when order was restored, we discovered that the ringing tone was from the pocket of one of the neutralised insurgents. The caller’s number was saved as ‘office’. It kept ringing, but we didn’t pick the call because it might be a booby trap.
“They (DSS) refused to allow us leave with the telephone. They claimed it was their exhibit. The million-dollar question is: How did an insurgent in SSS underground cell get a mobile phone?” he queried.
The officer was quick to add that the ringing mobile telephone suggested that the attack was not only premeditated, but fuelled, thereby raising concerns that Boko Haram sect members might have infiltrated the DSS.
The discovery of one suspected insurgent in one of the cars in the DSS parking lot, he added, nearly caused a big problem.
“Having disarmed the man, we wanted to take him for questioning. DSS personnel objected, claiming the man was one of their key witnesses. They however couldn’t explain why he was hiding in one of the cars,” he said.
Source: Nigerian Pilot
