The Department of
State Service (DSS) said yesterday it arrested a wanted terrorism suspect and
member of the Islamic State of West Africa (ISWA), Husseini Mai-Tangaran.
A
statement by a DSS official, Tony Opuiyo, said the Service uncovered and foiled
plans by the ISWA terrorists to cause mayhem that would have disrupted the
Eid-Kabir Sallah festivities.
He
said the plan was to conduct gun attacks and suicide bombing on selected
targets in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, Niger,
Bauchi, Yobe and Borno states.
He
said Mai-Tangaran was the brain behind major terror attacks in parts of the
country, especially the one of January 20, 2012 in Kano
“The
mastermind of the operation is Husseini Mai-Tangaran, a well known senior ISWA
commander, who has been on the Service and Nigeria Army radar since 2012, when
he spearheaded armed attacks on the office of the Assistant Inspector General
of Police (AIG), Zone I, on January 20, 2012, as well as other public places in
Kano,” he added.
The
DSS said Mai-Tangaran was also responsible for the deadly attacks on
worshippers at the Kano Central Mosque, as well as an attack on a military
formation in Yobe State in 2015, which claimed hundreds of lives.
Opuiyo
explained that under the banner of the ISWA, which he belongs, Mai-Tangaran, an
IED expert, had been prepping and priming others for the perpetration of
suicide bombing attacks carried out by the group in the past within the
North-East region.
He
also said Mai-Tangaran was arrested in Kano on August 31, 2017, and that
further exploitation led to the arrest of one Abdulkadir Umar Mohammed by the
Service on September 2, 2017, at Kantin Kwari Market in Fagge Local Government
Area of Kano.
“Mohammed
was a fighter of the sect who left the conclave of the group in the Sambisa
forest to join ranks with Ismaila towards carrying out attacks being planned by
the group.
“Also,
another accomplice in the plot, one Muhammad Ali, was arrested on September 3,
2017, at Sheka area in Kumbotso Local Government Area of the state. Prior to
his arrest, Ali was the financial courier of the group in Kano.
- Dailytrust
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