by Rachel Ogbu

The Joint Task Force has arrested four foreign nationals, suspected to have hailed from Middle East after finding a large cache  of arms and ammunition in their mini-warehouse located in the Bompai area of Kano.

On Wednesday, JTF identified one of the foreigners as a Lebanese national and arrested him in the building, located on Gaya road in Bompai area of the metropolis.

About 40 air-to-surface missiles, 50 cluster bombs, 200 rocket-propel launchers, eight AK-47 rifles, 200 military hand grenades and some military hardware capable of destroying  Armoured Personnel Carriers, were some of the items recovered and taken to the headquarters of the 3rd Motorised Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Kano.

[ READ: #SOE: Boko Haram leader orders sect members to “fight to the end” ]

A resident in the area had told reporters that he counted over “300 AK-47 riffles” during the evacuation.

According to reports, preliminary investigation had begun while “three countries have been indicted and the military high command is working to ascertain the culpability.”

JTF Spokesman, Captain Ikedichi Iweha, promised to brief newsmen later on the issue, but said at the Democracy Day celebration, security was fortified in the commercial city of Kano, with increased vehicular patrols by the military, JTF operatives and the police, as part of the measures to sustain relative peace in the city.

“You would get the details tomorrow (Thursday) because of the Democracy Day celebration. We have resolved to talk to you after the break,” he said.

The Punch reports:

Meanwhile,  the JTF has arrested 50 terror suspects in Borno State with the  aid of special dogs, says the Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Chris Olukolade.

Olukolade said in a statement on Wednesday that the terror suspects were arrested with the help of specially trained dogs while trying to infiltrate Maiduguri.

The Defence spokesman said 15 of those arrested were caught with arms concealed either in their bodies or their properties.

He said various attempts by terror suspects, who were dislodged from their camps in the forest in Borno to enter the cities and towns of the North-East,  had been thwarted with the aid of the dogs

Olukolade said, “Trained Military Police dogs are participating in the cordon and search phase of special operations against terrorism in the country.

“The efforts of the specially trained dogs have so far led to the arrest of over 50 terrorists who were trying to infiltrate Maiduguri.”