Soldiers arrest B’Haram fuel supplier, free 260 captives

The troops of the Nigerian Army have arrested a man said to be a supplier of fuel and food to the members of the Boko Haram at Daban Shata, a suburb of Baga, Borno State.

Olukolade said that the military intelligence had been on the trail of the man until he was picked up in the early hours of Sunday.

The Defence spokesman stated also that the soldiers also rescued an additional 260 women and children near Chalawa Village in Adamawa State.

The troops had rescued 293 women and girls on Tuesday and another 160 women and children on Wednesday

According to him, the women and children were rescued and taken back to their communities in Madagali Local Government Area after being profiled.

He said that some of the rescued women said that they had to escape from their homes when the Magali area came under attack from the insurgents while others said they were abducted and taken to the area.

He said, “A man who specialises in supplying fuel and food to terrorists was this morning nabbed in Daban Shata in the suburbs of Baga, Borno State.

“The military intelligence had been trailing him till he was eventually trapped in the early hours of Sunday. He is presently undergoing interrogation.

“In another development, troops on patrol yesterday (on Saturday) located 260 women and children in the outskirts of Chalawa village in Adamawa State where they had been held up while trying to escape from terrorists.

“They have now been conveyed back to their various communities in Madagali after undergoing the normal security profiling.

“Some of them disclosed that they had to abandon their homes to escape from the terrorists when Madagali came under their attack, while others were actually abducted and taken there. The terrorists were however sacked from the Madagali recently.”

Olukolade said that the troops also killed several of the terrorists in the ensuing gun battle to recover the abducted women and children.

He added that while some of the terrorists escaped with varying degrees of gunshot wounds, others who were captured were undergoing interrogation.

He said that the troops captured a machine gun, some rounds of ammunition, motorcycles and bicycles from the terrorists.