Security agencies comb S’West for 20 terror cells

One of the houses (arrowed) where some suspected Boko Haram members were arrested by soldiers and men of the State Security Service at Aromire Street, Ijora, Lagos... on Thursday

Intelligence operatives are on the trail of terrorists suspected to be based in over 20 locations in South-West states, SUNDAY PUNCH authoritatively reports.

Multiple security sources in Abuja and Lagos told our correspondents on Friday that intelligence agents had been deployed in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo and Ekiti states to locate the terror cells.

This is coming shortly after Thursday’s raid of a street in Ijora, Lagos, where a terror cell of the Islamic fundamentalist sect, Boko Haram, was uncovered.

Soldiers who stormed two houses in the community arrested five suspects and recovered bombs and AK-47 rifles.

Following the arrest of the suspects who were transferred to Abuja on Friday, security agents are on the trail of similar cells that are scattered in the South-West.

A highly-placed security source on Friday told SUNDAY PUNCH that the operation became imperative following intelligence reports and Thursday’s raid on hideouts in Ijora.

He said, “What happened in Lagos was a tip of the iceberg. There are at least 20 other terror cells in locations across the South-West, particularly Lagos and Ogun states.

“Agents have been sent to areas suspected to be harbouring them, especially communities where there is an aggregation of aliens.”

SUNDAY PUNCH further gathered that the Federal Government had given a directive to the Defence Headquarters to give priority to all emergency calls or information by the Department of State Security in this regard.

Similarly, a top State Security Service official, who pleaded anonymity, said terrorists were moving to the South, following incessant raids on their hideouts in Borno, Yobe and other states in the core North by the Joint Task Force.

“In the last one year, many terrorists have been going southward because of the heat on them by the JTF in the North.

“The operation in Lagos was between the SSS and the Army. The Federal Government has instructed the soldiers to give our men a prompt response at all time, whenever we need them. More of such collaborative efforts will be seen in the coming weeks.”

In Ondo, police authorities confirmed that some communities had been put under watch.

The Public Relations Officer of the state command, Mr. Wole Ogodo, said, “The discovery of bombs and members of the Boko Haram sect in Lagos is disturbing and worrisome. Our intelligence officers and those in the information management technology department are now all over the state. Apart from Hausa-dominated areas, we are also in crime-prone areas just to ensure that we don’t leave anything to chance”

His Ogun State counterpart, Muyiwa Adejobi, said apart from plainclothes policemen and operatives of the SSS that were carrying out covet operations, students were also being asked to give information of suspicious movement in the state.

“It will affect everybody if we allow some strangers to come and destroy us in Ogun State. We are focusing on all ethnic groups in the state. Boko Haram is not limited to the Hausa people alone. It is all-encompassing. So, we are not limiting our focus to the Hausa community alone.

“But the plainclothes men are working hand-in-hand with the SSS to make sure we have robust intelligence gathering which will help us in taking any decision we want to take.

“We had a meeting today (Friday) with security agencies, including the vigilance services. We are incorporating everybody, including members of the public. We have a body now called Police Students’ Forum. We are even using the students to see what we can do. We are doing what we call multi-track diplomacy. It’s our own strategy. It’s left for us for full implementation and not for your consumption,” he said.

In Oyo, a source at the State Security Service who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said, indeed more surveillance had been mounted in specific communities.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police,Oyo  State Command, Mr. Clement Adoda, who spoke on behalf of the CP, was hesitant to talk about the operation to smoke out terrorists in the state.

“We have our strategies on the ground both within the towns and along the highways. We are ensuring that criminals don’t infiltrate Oyo,” he said.

It was further learnt that intelligence agents in Ekiti have increased surveillance in some communities in Ado Ekiti and Ikere.

A security source, who refused to name the communities, said the action was taken because of the “peculiarity of those areas.”

Meanwhile, following last Monday’s attack on Lagos-bound luxury buses at the Sabon Gari area of Kano which left over 60 people dead and injured several others, security has been beefed up in Kaduna metropolis and environs to forestall reprisals.

Since the Kano attack, there has been heavy presence of security operatives stationed at strategic locations, particularly around mosques where Muslims observe the Friday Juma’at prayers.

At the Ungwan-Sarki, Rabah, Kawo areas, the state security outfit, Operation Yaki, had their vehicles stationed there and ordered motorcyclists to disembark and roll their bikes on Friday.

A top security chief who pleaded anonymity told one of our correspondents that they were not taking chances in view of the Kano attack.

“The security situation in the state is dicey. Nobody knows what will happen next,” he said.

In a related development, gunmen have launched a series of gun and bomb attacks in a remote town along Nigeria’s border with Cameroon, killing at least 25 people on Saturday, a report by Reuters said, quoting the police.

Gunmen reportedly carried out four simultaneous assaults on Ganye in Adamawa State on Friday, opening fire on a bar, a bank, a prisoner warder and separately attacking a prison, Mohammed Ibrahim, police spokesman for the state, said.

“Twenty-five people were killed in four different simultaneous attacks by gunmen in Ganye,” Ibrahim said.

According to him, members of the Boko Haram sect are the prime suspects.

Also, three bombs exploded in Kano on Saturday, Kano State police spokesman, Magaji Majiya, told Reuters.

He said one of the bombings was a suicide attack, but it did not claim any lives apart from those of the bombers.

A remote control bomb targeting a joint military and police checkpoint however, wounded several policemen, Majiya stated.

He added that separate gun attacks in the city’s Dakata area killed one person on Saturday, while four people had been arrested in connection with the attacks.

PUNCH