No fewer than 55 scrap metal collectors lost their lives in a series of attacks coordinated by Boko Haram insurgents in the last three weeks in Borno State.
The State’s Commissioner of Police, Abdu Umar, stated this while speaking on the sideline of a security stakeholders’ meeting yesterday, in Maiduguri, the State capital.
Umar said the terrorists killed 32 scrap metal collectors at Modu village in Kala-Balge local government area, while 23 others were murdered at Mukdala village of Dikwa LGA, respectively.
The stakeholders comprised the Police, Army, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and the Department of State Security (DSS), among others.
The meeting was to deliberate and proffer a solution to the incessant attacks on scrap metal collectors in the State.
Umar said the victims sneaked into the forests, located about 25 kilometers from the towns without informing the security agencies for scrap metal collection, adding that Gov. Babagana Zulum directed security agencies to adopt pro-active measures to stop the killings to forestall future occurrences of the incident.
Also commenting, the Chairman of the Scrap Metal Association in the State, Umar Usman, said the victims of the Kala-Balge and Dikwa attacks were not registered members of the association, alleging that the victims were Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the affected communities.
According to him, the association is monitoring the activities of over 3,000 registered scrap metal collectors across 27 LGAs of the State.
The chairman further refuted the alleged vandalism of critical infrastructure by its members, adding that the association liaised with the security agencies and community leaders before transacting on scrap metals.
