Nigeria’s military special task force said last night it
had arrested a number of security personnel over links to Islamist extremist
group Boko Haram, whose insurgency has killed hundreds of people. The arrests
came after soldiers from a special military unit deployed in the northeastern
city of Maiduguri arrested an immigration officer, Grema Mohammed, for
allegedly being an active member of Boko Haram, a military spokesman said.
Boko Haram is blamed for deadly attacks that have killed
more than 1,400 people since 2010 as part of an insurgency in northern and
central Nigeria. The arrest “led to further arrests of some other security
personnel that had been participating in various terrorist attacks in Borno and
Yobe states,” Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa said of the two states in
northeastern Nigeria, where Boko Haram has been based. He did not specify how
many arrests had been made.
“He confessed to being an active member of the Boko Haram
terrorist sect which he joined long before the 2009 crisis,” Musa said in a
statement in reference to a 2009 uprising by the group.
“He also confessed to having been trained alongside 15
other members of the sect on weapon handling, assassination and special
operations in Niger republic,” Musa added, referring to the neighbouring
nation.
Grema was arrested over a month ago at a checkpoint while
allegedly impersonating an army lieutenant, Musa said. The suspect also
confessed to the killings of some senior civil servants, security personnel and
politicians who had spoken against the sect in Yobe and Borno states. He had
also participated in attacks on police stations, a prison and the burning of
public schools, Musa said.
There have previously been accusations of involvement of
some security personnel in the attacks, which have grown increasingly
sophisticated.
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