Army arrests four Boko Haram logistics suppliers

The Nigerian Army on Tuesday said it had arrested four Boko Haram insurgents’ suppliers in Borno State, as part of a renewed campaign to stifle the insurgents’ economy.

The Theater Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj.-Gen. Olusegun Adeniyi, made the disclosure during the destruction of four vehicles and essential commodities seized from the insurgents in Maiduguri.

Adeniyi disclosed that the military authorities had banned sales of petrol and other trades in the hinterland to deny the insurgents access to logistics and monies to fund their activities.

He decried the nonchalant attitude of some traders and commercial vehicle operators who supplied and transported logistics to the insurgents.

“There are no petrol stations in the Sambisa Forest, Algarno, Baga and Gwoza; the logistics sustaining the insurgents is coming from Maiduguri, Damaturu and other settlements.

“Some commercial vehicle operators fabricated their tanks to a 200-liter capacity, to enable them to supply and sell petrol to the insurgents at the rate of N245 per litre.

“Troops at checkpoints arrested four vehicles on their way to deliver large consignment of logistics to the insurgents in the hinterland.

“The insurgency will have stopped if not for the people who patronise them; our effort is to arrest illegal business aiding the insurgency.

“Boko Haram logicians will neither be tolerated nor ignored, anybody who engages or allow his vehicle to transport insurgents’ logistics would be prosecuted because you are part of them and an enemy of the state,” he said.

Adeniyi listed the items seized to include diesel concealed as palm oil; bread, grain, mats, sacks, motorcycle spare parts and items used by the insurgents to produce Improvised Explosive Devices.

The commander called on the people and the Nigeria Union of Road Transport Workers to sensitise its members on the need to desist from transporting goods for the insurgents, warning that such vehicles would be seized and destroyed.

News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the army had on August 23 destroyed fisheries products, hides and four vehicles seized from the insurgents’ suppliers arrested on Maiduguri-Gamboru Road.

-NAN