Boko Haram: SSS uncovers bomb factory near Aso Rock


, arrests maker, supplier of devices

The State Security Service (SSS) has uncovered a Boko Haram- owned bomb-making factory in Hayin-Uku village in Tafa Local Government Area of Niger State where over 20 materials used in making Improvised Explosive Devices were recovered. The village is less than 45 minutes drive from the Three Arms Zone in Abuja where the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, the National Assembly and the Supreme Court are located. Among items recovered were 10 GSM handsets, 200 pieces of detonators, two damaged detonators, 37 unused metallic oil filters, two metallic oil filters primed for bombing and detonation cables filled with a powdery substance which can travel at a speed of 12, 600 metres per second when detonated.

Also recovered was a black Honda Civic car with Borno State registration number AG 94 MNG. Displaying the explosivemaking devices recovered from the suspects’ factory yesterday, Assistant Director, Public Relations of SSS, Marilyn Ogar said those arrested also masterminded the killing of four policemen at an Abuja check-point on May 22, 2011 and would be charged to court soon.

“In effect, the six suspects are responsible for the following: The bombing of INEC office Suleja; Bombing of All Christian Fellowship Church Suleja; and the killing of four policemen at Dakwa-Deidei in the FCT,” Ogar said. Explaining how the suspects were rounded up, the SSS Spokesperson said the arrest of the Nigerien on August 4, 2011 provided useful information which led to the arrest of others. The suspects were also said to have disclosed that the main supplier of the explosive devices is a miner from Nasarawa State who has been arrested since Tuesday last week. “On 4th August, 2011, a suspect who is a Nigerien national was apprehended in connection with the bombing incident in Suleja. He confessed to his involvement in the bombings as well as his membership of the Boko Haram sect. His confession led to the arrest of a thirty-one (31) year old indigene of Imo State who converted to Islam in 2003. The second suspect, who is born of a Nigerien mother, was brought up in Niger Republic, where he had his early education. He also admitted to being a member of the Boko Haram sect as well as having worked in concert with a third suspect from Kano State to carry out attacks in Suleja.

Their confessions led to further arrest of two accomplices from Borno State. “The five suspects all confessed that the main supplier of the explosive materials used for their bombing operations is a miner from Nasarawa State who the SSS eventually arrested on 30th August, 2011. They also confessed that they took part in the killing of four policemen at a checkpoint at Dakwa-Deidei in Bwari Area Council of the FCT on 22nd May, 2011. “Investigation has indeed revealed that the suspects belong to the Boko Haram cell operating in the Suleja-Abuja axis which is under the direction and control of a blood-thirsty Boko Haram leader who is now at large,” Ogar said. At the two room derelict building used for assembling the Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs in Chechnya, Hayin Uku village in Tafa Local Government Area of Niger State, National Mirror gathered that the suspects moved into the area less than two months ago.

The building which had only a small window in each room was said to have been used by the suspects as a factory for making the explosives. Suspected members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect had on April 8, 2011 on the eve of the National Assembly elections detonated a bomb at the INEC office in Suleja killing at least eight people including INEC adhoc staff while the sect was also blamed for another attack on a Sunday on the Suleja branch of the All Christian Fellowship Mission. It is not yet certain if the suspects were also among the masterminds of the March 3, 2011 bomb attack at a rally organised by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the area which killed at least 10 people. Meanwhile, the nineteen Northern governors are set to meet to proffer lasting solution to the security challenges facing the region, especially with the killing of 21 persons in the recent sectarian crisis rocking Jos, Plateau State. The emergency meeting is to be convened at the instance of the chairman Northern Governors Forum (NGF) and governor of Niger State, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu.

This was contained in a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mallam Danladi Ndayebo and made available to the National Mirror in Minna, yesterday. It said the governors have all agreed to move-in in order to halt the senseless killings. The statement reads in part, “I am horrified at the new wave of senseless killings in and around Jos, the Plateau State capital beginning from the clash between Muslims and Christians at the Rukuba area of Jos which left 17 persons dead and several others injured” “Since then, targeted killings have spread to villages around the state capital, taking terrible toll on the people of Plateau State. This development is condemnable, reprehensible and therefore unacceptable.”


http://nationalmirroronline.net/news/20033.html