Military arrests doctor, lawyer over alleged link with Boko Haram

MILITARY authorities have arrested a medical doctor and a lawyer for their alleged link with the Boko Haram insurgent group.
The doctor was said to be aboard a pick-up van plying one of the routes in Borno State with some suspected Boko Haram insurgents when he was nabbed.
He and other occupants of the vehicle reportedly fled and abandoned the vehicle at a military checkpoint mounted by members of the Joint Task Force (JTF) when soldiers accosted them, the Nigerian Tribune gathered.
Military source told Nigerian Tribune that when the military men eventually searched the vehicle, cache of arms and ammunition were found concealed in strategic places in the van.
It was gathered that the doctor surfaced later to retrieve his laptop and other documents which he abandoned in the van while fleeing the scene and was arrested.
Under interrogation, he was said to have revealed his identity as a medical practitioner working with one of the affiliates of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
When asked if he realised the implications of the persons he was travelling with and the arms and ammunition stocked in the vehicle, the doctor reportedly claimed to be working in line with a WHO mandate.
It was gathered that the military later stormed one of the Boko Haram training camps located in the heart of Sambisa Forest in Borno State and discovered an abandoned make shift clinic, where injured members of the sect were treated.
Items recovered from the abandoned clinics included needles, syringes, medications, surgical equipment and other medical accessories.
On the other hand, the lawyer was arrested in Potiskum, Yobe State, for openly propagating the ideology of the Boko Haram sect and always defending the sect members whenever they were arrested.
He was said to have been arrested after issuing several threats against the military authorities.
Meanwhile, the Defence Headquarters, on Thursday, disclosed that over 1,000 members of the sect had been captured since the declaration of the state of emergency by President Goodluck Jonathan in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.
The Director of Defence Information, Brigadier-General Chris Olukolade, told journalists that the military operation had been successful in dislodging the Boko Haram terrorists from their former strongholds, especially in Borno and Yobe states.
He noted that more were killed during the exchange of fire with the Special Forces of the JTF, while some were also taken away and buried by Boko Haram members.
Others, according to him, were captured with gunshot wounds and later died despite the best medical attention given to them.
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