Boko Haram bomb maker arrested ‘just before joining the army’

The Department of State Services (DSS) says it has arrested Idris Audu, a suspected bomb specialist of Boko Haram, who had “perfected plans to join the Nigeria army”.

The secret police said this on Sunday, in a statement signed by Tony Opuiyo, its agent.

“In response to the regrouping of Boko Haram elements in Kano state, the service in concert with the military, carried out coordinated operations in the state which led to the apprehension of two high profile members of the sect, namely; Ibrahim Ustaz Abubakar and Idris Audu (aka Aya),” the DSS said.

“Audu is an IED specialist who was being groomed to penetrate security agencies in the country. Audu had already perfected plans to seek for recruitment into the next recruitment scheme of the Nigeria army, before his arrest.”

The service also said that it arrested some gangs of kidnappers and armed robbers across the country.

“On 22 August, 2016, one Samuel Asuquo, a kidnap kingpin, was arrested by the service at Nasarawa Bakoko village in Cross River state,” it said.

“Asuquo was the mastermind of the kidnap of three Australian staff of Lafarge Cement Company, for which his gang received ransom of 150m.

“Similarly, on 30 August, 2016, the trio of Bamaiyi Mustapha (aka Dan Borno), Aminu Isa and Hassan Shehu, members of a notorious kidnap gang operating around the Abuja-Kaduna axis, were arrested at Lafia, Nasarawa state.

“The gang had earlier kidnapped five Igbo women and collected the sum of N13m as ransom. They were subsequently arrested by the service while planning a high profile kidnap in Abuja.”