Community leaders in Katsina and Nasarawa States have commended the Department of State Services, DSS, for the arrest of a suspected terrorists’ arms supply kingpin, Abubakar Mubarak, and the dismantling of a network feeding weapons to terrorist groups operating around the two states.
The leaders, who spoke in separate interviews with newsmen, disclosed that Mubarak was arrested on Tuesday by DSS operatives at Magabar Jibia in Jibia Local Government Area of Katsina State.
According to them, the suspect, believed to be about 28 years old, hails from Mashema Village in Zurmi Local Government Area of Zamfara State. They said the Tuesday operation led to the unravelling of an arms trafficking chain stretching across several northern states.
“We are very relieved and thankful to the DSS for arresting Mubarak. Many villagers are aware of the terror his men have been unleashing on us over the years. We are, however, thankful that Almighty Allah has used the DSS to bring their reign of terror to an end,” a community leader in Jibia LGA said through an interpreter.
In a related development, a leader of one of the communities near Keffi, Nasarawa State, said residents were grateful to the DSS for nabbing an arms courier, Ismail Lawalli, on Sunday evening along the Keffi–Abuja Highway.
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The community leader, a retired security agent, disclosed that Lawalli — also a native of Mashema Village — was arrested with 1,099 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, 57 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition, and 106 rounds of General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) ammunition.
He revealed that the courier confessed to conveying the ammunition to Mubarak, who had allegedly paid for the haulage — a disclosure that led operatives to the kingpin in Katsina State.
He further revealed that Mubarak’s elder brother, Mustapha Abubakar, was arrested earlier this year in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, also in connection with arms trafficking.
“Mustapha Abubakar was arrested by DSS operatives earlier this year at Gusau, with one AK-47 rifle and 20 rounds of ammunition,” he said.
The suspects are currently in DSS custody for further investigation and are expected to be prosecuted by the agency, in line with its practice in similar cases, the community leader hinted.
“I commend the DSS for being unrelenting in its resolve to track and dismantle illicit arms supply networks and other actors who fuel insecurity across the country. We hope that with the combined efforts of other security agencies, insecurity would soon be a thing of the past,” he declared.
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