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.”
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