Crime
ISWAP Kills Soldiers, Travellers in Borno, Yobe Using IEDs
By Derrick Bangura
Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) deployed by the Islamic State for West African Province (ISWAP), a terror group, led to the killing of soldiers and travellers in the North-east, THISDAY has learnt.
Consequently, the movement of troops battling insurgency in the North-east in recent times was also hampered by IEDs.
Although troops succeeded in defusing the locally manufactured explosives planted by the insurgents during military operations, many travellers were already killed.
Flashpoints, where terrorists plant IEDs include Maiduguri, Damboa, Biu, Bama, Banki, Gwoza, Buni Yadi, Malam Fatori and Kukawa, among others.
Speaking in Borno, the Theatre Commander of Operation Hadin Kai, Maj Gen Christopher Musa, identified the detection and defusing of IEDs as a major challenge in the fight against insurgency in the region.
“Troops must scan areas where it is conducting patrols before going for any operation and scan again while returning,” he lamented.
Military sources said it takes an extended period of time for troops to defuse landmines with sweepers.
“Military movements that should take minutes, for instance, takes several hours and sometimes days in scanning and rescanning the environment for IEDs so as to ensure the safety of troops,” the source said.
The use of IEDs by terrorists against troops, had been an issue of concern to military authorities for some time.
Former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai (rtd), had, during his tenure, decried the performance of IED detectors procured from Slovak Republic.
He said some anti-mine equipment procured from that country and deployed to the North-east were not meeting targets of tactical operations.
Speaking at a meeting with Ambassador of Slovak Republic to Nigeria, Mr Peter Kolasec, at his office then, Buratai, who was represented by the former Chief of Army Policy and Plans, Lt General Lamidi Adeosun (rtd), said the military procured five consignments of arms and ammunition including 127 mm KVA machine guns, prosena anti-mine equipment and other weapons, which were deployed to the North-east.
He said the anti-mine equipment did not meet the expectations of army’s battle plans.
“The prosena anti-mine equipment is only good for removing mines where war has taken place. We are using it the best way we can but it is not working the way we want it to work. If it can’t detect mine from 50 meters, then we need new equipment.
“The way it is, it is not good for tactical operations so that we don’t waste resources,” he said, noting that insurgents deployed IEDs, which were poorly put together while maintaining that what was required was equipment that would detect and neutralise them.
The Anambra State Police Command has foiled a cult initiation ceremony in Nawfia, Njikoka Local Government Area of the state.
Spokesperson for the Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday in Awka.
According to Ikenga, the operation was carried out by police operatives around 9:30am on June 15, leading to the arrest of six suspects at the scene.
Recovered during the raid were one Jojef pump action gun, two cartridges, and a golden-coloured Lexus SUV with registration number ATN 202 AE. Other items found include two cutlasses, two scissors, a cap bearing the inscription of the Supreme Vikings Confraternity, charms, and substances suspected to be hard drugs.
“They are currently undergoing police interrogation to get more insight into their modus operandi, after which the case will be charged to court on the conclusion of the investigations,” Ikenga stated.
The police spokesperson reassured residents of the command’s unwavering commitment to fighting cultism and other related crimes across the state.
An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, on Wednesday, remanded two persons, Olaitan Fasasi and Kehinde Tobiloba in a correctional facility over alleged attempted murder.
Fasasi, 40, and Tobiloba, 26, whose addresses were not provided, are being charged with conspiracy, attempted murder and membership of a secret society.
The Magistrate, Mr L.A Owolabi, did not take the plea of the defendants for want of jurisdiction.
Owolabi directed the police to forward the case file to the Director of Public Prosecution for legal advice.
He thereafter adjourned the case until May 31 for mention.
The Prosecutor, Josephine Ikhayere, told the court that the defendants committed the offences at about 5.02p.m on Feb. 15, at Mushin, Lagos.
She said that Fasasi, Tobiloba and others now at large, attempted to commit murder by shooting at a resident, Alfred Ademola.
“They armed themselves with a locally made gun. They belong to Eiye Confraternity, a group proscribed by law,”, she said.
Ikhayere said that the offences contravened Sections 230(1) and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2012.
He said that the actions of the defendants also contravened Section 2(3)(a)(b)(c)(d) of the unlawful societies and Cultism Law of Lagos State Law.
An Area Court in Jos, on Tuesday, sentenced one Jeptha John, to three months imprisonment for stealing a Redmi mobile phone valued at N165, 000.
The judge, Shawomi Bokkos, sentenced the John after he pleaded guilty to the offence.
The judge, however, gave the convict an option to pay N20, 000 fine and N50, 000 restitution to the complainant.
Bokkos said that if the convict defaulted in paying the restitution, three months should be added to his sentence to make it six months imprisonment.
Earlier, the police prosecutor, Insp Monday Dabit, told the court that the case was reported at the B Division Police Station, Jos, on Dec. 1, 2024, by Ms Nerat Danjuma.
He said that the complainant alleged that the defendant trespassed into her house and stole her mobile phone valued at N165, 000.
The prosecutor further told the court that the offence contravened the Plateau State Penal Code, Law of Northern Nigeria.
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