Four arms smugglers were arrested and a large number of arms recovered from them included: 77 AK-47 rifles, 7 RPGs, 30,000 rounds of ammo and two rocket launchers smuggled in Toyota Hi-Lux vehicles coming from Libya en route to Nigeria.
According to reports, a security source said the arms smugglers were headed for Nigeria and would have penetrated through the North-East region but for the Nigerien security. They were headed for Maiduguri Nigeria, through Agadez before they were intercepted and we suspect that they are those who supply arms to the Boko Haram terrorists”, he stated.
Boko Haram launched a bloody insurgency in 2009 in northeastern Nigeria but later spread its atrocities to neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a military response. More than 30,000 people have been killed and nearly 3 million displaced in a decade of Boko Harams terror activities in Nigeria, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Recall that in a recent attack by Boko Haram fighters on Damasak town in Borno State on Saturday, the terrorists burnt United Nations (UN) facilities and forced humanitarian workers to flee for their lives.
It was learnt that the terrorists, aided by their deadlier Islamic State West African Province fighters, set fire to the UN office and at least three other international charity organisations contiguous to the UN facility.
