“We caught them with their guns”: Traders ‘arrest’ 6 suspected Boko Haram members in Maiduguri

by Rachel Ogbu

Photo: arizonanaija
Photo: arizonanaija

On Wednesday at Gamboru market in Maiduguri, Borno State, traders boldly seized six suspected Boko Haram gunmen and handed them over to soldiers of the Joint Task Force, JTF, eyewitnesses report said.

“We caught them before they could bring out their guns. After we succeeded in disarming them, we beat them blue and black before handing them over to the soldiers,” a grocery merchant in Maiduguri, Babagana Aji, 36, said.

“It was a trader that alerted us when he saw them and we immediately trailed and rounded them up.”

According to an eyewitness report, the Boko Haram suspects were spotted by a trader as soon as they entered the market and he saw weapons hidden under their garments.

The traders were taking no chances of being gunned down even after Boko Haram declared war on Borno youths for exposing their hideouts and handing them over to the authorirties.

 [READ: Terrorism: Boko Haram declares war on Borno and Yobe youth, kill 22 in renewed attacks ]

The Vanguard reports:

This is even as suspected sect members, yesterday evening, detonated an Improvised Explosive Devise, EID, in the metropolis, targeting the patrol vehicle of the JTF, in spite of the emergency rule imposed on Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, and the total ban on the use of GSM and Thuraya Satellite cell phones in the troubled states.

Another trader, Sanusi Dantakai, said Gamboru traders had had it up their neck and were forced to take the bull by the horns.

He said: “This Gamboru market had suffered several attacks. Boko Haram has set it on fire twice and killed several traders and an orange vendor, among others.

“We are tired of the losses we incur at every attack carried out by Boko Haram. That was why we summoned courage to catch them today.”

Meanwhile, the sound of the explosion, which occurred at 6:30pm in the metropolis forced residents and traders to rush back to their houses to avoid being caught in the 6pm to 9pm curfew imposed on the state.

Due to the total network black out, spokesman of the JTF, Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa and the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Gideon Jubrin, could not be reached for confirmation at the time of going to press.

 

Comments (4)

  1. Why must the press and JTF reveal the names of the traders or people that helps dem to identify or capture these terrorist? Knowing fully well that there might be reprisal attack on them? What kind of mumu JTF and press do we have? Endangering the lives of pple who helps in their operation. Tomorrow you will hear that these pple have been killed for helping the JTF. Yet they expect them to keep helping with vital information on their own expense. Na wao o

  2. D rporters shd stop takin piples names nd i also tanks d youth nd trders 4 suport oneday it wil b over

  3. God no dey sleep,one by one they will be caught red handed.

  4. For God’s sake you reporters need to stop broadcasting the youths’ names! You’re only making them BH targets for the rest of their lives… And the youths too need to stop giving their names to reporters!

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