Arms, foodstuffs, others recovered from Balmo Forest on Friday

Security forces have excavated 10 riffles and 80 general purpose machine guns from Balmo forest in Bauchi State, the Federal Government has said.

The Federal Government also admitted that some soldiers had been facing court martial over their roles in the ongoing war against terrorism in the country.

Coordinator of the National Information Centre and Director General of the National Orientation Agency, Mr. Mike Omeri, disclosed this during a press briefing in Abuja.

Omeri said, “The mopping operations being undertaken by the armed forces within the forest is yielding more discovery of arms stockpiled underground. So far, 10 riffles, 80 general purpose machine guns have been excavated from different parts of the forest.

“The men and women apprehended in the forest have continued to give useful information and the link between the activities in the forest and other terrorist activities in different parts of the federation.”

Omeri had on Wednesday disclosed that security operatives had begun quizzing politicians found to have links with the terrorists following materials found in the forest hideout that indicted the unnamed politicians.

The NOA boss had said, “After the last successful operations carried out by security forces to dislodge terrorists from their forest bases in the Darazo Local Government Area end of the Balmo forest, some politicians are currently being investigated following their link with activities in the forest.

“The politicians are being interrogated following the recovery of some sensitive registration cards and other materials of a prominent political party that were found in the possession of some of the suspects arrested.

“Investigation is still on-going to further unravel the identity of others that may have been involved and as soon as it is completed, we shall reveal the names of the culprits and the political party.

“Accordingly, we wish to emphasise that the government, particularly the security agencies will not condone the involvement of politicians in security matters.”

PUNCH