Michael Olugbode
Police in Borno State thursday said nine Boko Haram fuel suppliers have been arrested.
Also arrested by the police were an armed robber and adulterators of pepper.
The state Commissioner of Police, Damien Chukwu, who paraded the suspects before journalists, said these were parts of successes made by his command in the last one month.
He said: “Modu Maidara of Njimtilo village was contracted to supply fuel and food items to Boko Haram insurgents at Alagarno in Sambisa Forest and other camps. He had been operating in a green coloured pickup vehicle, with Borno registration number, KH 335 MAG.â€
The commissioner added that Maidara also conveyed firewood into Maiduguri, on his return from the bush, after collecting money from insurgents to supply them with food items and fuel.
He said the suspect was arrested on April 19, 2017, and the vehicle he used to supply food items and fuel was impounded.
Chukwu said the suspected had confessed to supplying items to insurgents, after collecting N10, from Boko Haram to supply motorcycle spare parts.
He said: “We also discovered that 15 other Isuzu vehicles were sighted fetch firewood in the Alagarno axis,†noting that many other suspects are engaged in supply items to Boko Haram in the state.
On the arrested armed robber (Ishaku Agagu), the commissioner said he was arrested on April 14, 2017, for alleged extortion of a widow with a toy dressed in military uniform.
He noted that the accused tried extorting a widow of N150,000, lamenting that extortion of widow has become a new trend within Maiduguri metropolis.
Agagu, while confessing to the criminal act to journalists, said he collected
the military uniform at the Garrison Command of Nigerian Army before
attacking the widow with a toy gun at a housing estate on Baga road.
On the adulteration of pepper, Chukwu disclosed that Ali Umar, Babakaka Bukar and Ali Sanusi connived to produce pepper with saw dust for sale to make profit.
He said a large quantity of the adulterated pepper has been recovered by the police, and after preliminary investigations, the product will be returned to NAFDAC for further analysis and prosecution in a court of law.
He said all the suspects are to be arraigned after preliminary investigation is completed.
