SSS smashes Hezbollah terrorist cell in
Kano
From DESMOND MGBOH, Kano

A combined team of the Joint Task Force
(JTF), involving officers of the Nigerian
Army and the Directorate of State
Security (DSS), yesterday, confirmed that
they have smashed a cell of a foreign
terrorist organization, identified as
Hezbollah in Kano and arrested some of
its members who are operating in the
country.
Daily Sun gathered that the smashing of
the terror cell, which particularly shocked
the Lebanese community in the state,
equally led to the seizure of a large cache
of weapons of mass destruction at a
property located at No 3, Gaya Road, off
Bompai Road, Kano. The said property,
according to security officials, belonged to
one Abdul Hassan Taher Fadlalla, a
Lebanese national, who is currently out of
the country.
The Director of the State Security, Mr.
Eteng Bassey and the Brigade
Commander of the 3 Brigade of the
Nigeria Army, Brigadier General Illyasu
Abbah, said they uncovered an
underground bunker in the master
bedroom of the said house after a
painstaking search conducted by security
officers.
Speaking to newsmen at the house, they
disclosed that the weapons discovered
included 11 of 60mm anti-tank weapons,
four of anti-tank mines, two of 122mm
artillery gun ammunition, 76 military
grenade and nine pistols. Also discovered
at the house were 21 RPG bombs, 16 RPG
chargers one RPG tubes, one SMG, two of
SMG magazines, seven AK47 rifles, 44 AK
47 magazines, 103 packs of small
detonators, rocket propelled guns and 11,
433 of 7.62mm ammunition, among other
dangerous weapons.
The security chiefs said: “All the weapons
and ammunition recovered were properly
concealed with several layers of concrete
and placed in coolers, drums and neatly
wrapped bags.” Security sources told Daily
Sun that the discovery of the bunkers did
not come easy as the whole house was
full of decoys and distractions, apart from
the fact that they had reinforced locks
and keys on the doors and windows
leading to the master bedroom, which
had the bunkers.
A source told Daily Sun that the hidden
bunker was eventually discovered with
the help of explosive detectors, which
insistently alerted the security agents to
the effect that there were weapons in the
house, a situation which caused the
security team to tear the ceilings of the
building as well as to dig into the under
ground layers of the house.
Reeling out the sequence of events
leading to the arrest of the suspects, the
security chiefs stated that the discoveries
were as a result of an ongoing counter
terrorism investigation by the
Department of the State Services Abuja
spanning over several months.
The security sources noted that the
investigation had confirmed to the
existence of a Hezbollah foreign terrorist
cell in Nigeria. According to the director
of the state security, “the investigation is
ongoing, but what you see here, all these
things you see here, is the handiwork of a
foreign terrorist organization.
They call them, Hezbollah. This is the
handiwork of Hezbollah. What has just
been discovered is a cell of Hezbollah and
what you have seen here is a Hezbollah
armory.”
He also said the suspects had confessed
that the entire arms and ammunition
were targeted at facilities belonging to
Israel and Western interests in Nigeria.
“These arms were said to have been
brought in to use them against Israel
property or Western interest in Nigeria,
but whatever it is, our security forces are
on the heels of the investigation.
The truth of it would come out: If the
arms are for what they claim or if they are
imported to harm our country.” The
discovery, according to the two security
chiefs, followed the arrest of one
Mustapha Fawaz on May 16, 2013 by the
Directorate of State Security. Mustapha
Fawaz, they said, was the co-owner of the
popular Amigo Supermarket as well as the
Wonderland Amusement Park, all in
Abuja.
“Thus, his arrest and confession unveiled
other members of the foreign terrorist
network, which led to the interception of
one member of the syndicate named
Abdullah Tahini, a Lebanese national at
the Mallam Aminu Kano International
Airport with an undeclared amount of $
60, 000 on him en-route Beirut.
On May 26, they subsequently arrested
one Talal Roda, a Lebanese national with
Nigerian passport in the said house at No
3, Gaya Road in Kano, which led to the
search conducted in the house.
The two security chiefs said all the
suspects arrested had confessed that they
underwent a Hezbollah terrorist training,
besides implicating the said Fauzi Fawad.
They described the entire episode as a
serious security matter, pointing out that
the cell, if they had succeeded in their
goals, could have caused a lot of
diplomatic problem for Nigeria, even as
they expressed worry that the terror
group had the capacity to provide support
to the local terrorist group operating in
Nigeria.
Brigadier General Abbah also expressed
anger that the owner of the said house
had deceived the people of his street by
building a mosque in front of his
compound adding that: “At the entrance
(of the compound) you will see something
like a mosque, where people do pray. If
you look out-from the beginning of the
street up to the end of the street-nobody
erected anything like that.
“He (suspect) wants to show people that
yes, he can pray and the people can come
and pray there, while he is amassing
weapons that could destroy the same
people he is gathering in front of his
house to pray,” Abbah said. According to
the General, he could not say how long
the weapons had been kept in the house,
adding that only a weapon expert could
determine exactly how long the weapons
had been kept in the house.
He, however, pointed out that they fired
one of the weapons and it fired very well,
a situation he said signified that the
weapons were in good condition to be put
to use at anytime.
He also disclosed that they were
expecting the members of the National
Assembly and other top policy makers
who were concerned with security and
defence matters in the country, who
would be visiting the state in the next
few days.
“These officials,” he said, ‘would offer
them firsthand information on the
smashing of the terrorist cell and the
discovery of a huge cache of weapons in
the state.”

Culled from sun newspaper