CRIME Police burst Boko Haram hideout in Kano, arrest five
Operatives of the Inspector General’s Joint Police Special Team have bursted a hideout of the Boko Haram group at Gayawa village in Kano State, and arrested five suspects; including a Nigerien and two women.
The suspects are Abba Mohammed, 20, (Nigerien); Usman A. Buhari, 23, (Borno State); Iliyasu Abdullahi, 46, (Kano); Aishatu Ya’u, 25, and Ladidi Yunusa, 27, both of Kwana-Hudu Quarters in Kano State.
However, one of the suspects died at the police command few minutes before the Kano State Commissioner of Police, Rabi’u Yusuf, briefed journalists on the arrest.
Briefing newsmen yesterday, Yusuf said three police officers: O/C Special, Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), an inspector and a sergeant were seriously injured.
Two of the injured officers were treated and discharged, while the third was still receiving treatment in the hospital.
The CP said the two suspects arrested first at Gwagwarwa Quarters in Kano Metropolis with an AK47 magazine, led the police to their hideout at Gayawa village where three other suspects were arrested after a gun duel.
“At the hideout of the terrorists, operatives of the IGP’s special team were attacked by the terrorists. They then repelled the attack and subsequently arrested three suspects,” the CP said.
Yusuf said a suspect that escaped from the hideout during the exchange of fire was suspected to be a dismissed Air Force personnel and owner of all the IEDs making tools found at their den.
The police commissioner said the suspects confessed to be members of the Boko Haram sect and that they participated in several operations in the North East and in Kano State.
He added that: “The suspects have also volunteered confessional statements indicating their plan to launch attacks on Kano and north eastern states.”
Yusuf revealed that the IGP’s special team which comprised the Special Tactical Force (STF), the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, the Force Intelligence Unit and other undercover units, as well as a conventional police team, had been trailing remnants of the Boko Haram in various locations in Kano and its environs.
“This joint team has prevented several attempts in various locations in Kano and environs by this terrorist group to attack innocent citizens,” he said.
Items recovered include one AK47 rifle No. 580088821, four magazines with live ammunition, tools for making IEDs, two sets of Air Force uniforms and four caps of the Air Force.
Other items recovered are one military boot, a set of camouflage military uniform, one Volkswagen car key, a laptop computer, one Ipad, some pictures of the suspects in military uniforms and some operational black masks. A 19-year-old boy, Lawrence Uyimwen, who killed a member of a rival cult group in Benin, the Edo State capital, has pleaded with government to give him a second chance in life.
Lawrence confessed to have joined the Junior Eiye fraternity at the age of 17 at Auchi in Etsako West Local Government Area. He was paraded along with other suspects by the state Commissioner of Police, Haliru Gwandu.
Answering questions from journalists, Uyimwen said, “I killed him like chicken because they first attacked members of our cult group,” adding that he carried out the killings because the leader of his cult group ordered him to do so.
“My name in the cult world is K-fisher. I was ordered to kill people by our leader called Slice. I was taught how to shoot by one boy called Biggie,” he confessed.
He explained that the rival cult group attacked them first and that in retaliation, a member of his gang called Biggie gave him the guns which he used to kill his victims.
“I have killed two persons. I killed them at Ekiadolor and Isihor. They were boys and cultists. It is our number one man, Slice, who gave the order to kill. My parents did not know I am a cultist. My mother felt bad I joined a cult group.
“I am pleading to be given a second chance so that I will repent of my sins and atrocities.” he said.
Gwandu, said the suspect would be charged to court and called for useful information that would aid the police in fighting crime.