‘Repentant Boko Haram Terrorists’ Invade Police Station, Set Ablaze NDLEA, Customs Checkpoints, Chase Away Operatives In Borno

Suspected repentant Boko Haram insurgents on Wednesday attacked the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and the Nigeria Customs Service checkpoints at Kasuwan Fara, a suburb of Maiduguri metropolis, Borno State.

According to a counter-insurgency expert and security analyst, Zagazola Makama in a post on X, the suspects also chased away all personnel on duty before setting ablaze all structures at the checkpoints.

No fewer than 3000 ex-Boko Haram members had passed through the De-radicalisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration camp in the last few years.

Makama said the incident followed a fierce encounter earlier between the suspected ex Boko Haram combatants and the police at the Kasuwan Fara Divisional Police Office.

“The suspected repentant insurgents, reportedly wearing military uniform, had pounced on the police office to forcefully set free their eight colleagues arrested at the suburb over criminal activities bordering on dealing in hard drugs.

“The arrest was made on April 24 during a raid carried out by the police on the notorious spot at the criminals-ridden Kasuwan Fara. Due to the rise and persistence of criminal activities and sinister operations by drug peddlers comprising dismissed military personnel, repentant insurgents and other hoodlums, who assemble there to conduct nefarious activities, the area had since been earmarked for closure by Borno State Government.

“The April 24 raid, where the eight suspected repentant insurgents were arrested and 426 bottles of spirits such as dry gin confiscated, was conducted to sanitize the area, pending the final closure. The arrested persons were detained at the Kasuwan Fara police division since the day of their arrest.

“Subsequently, at about 7:40am of Thursday, May 2, a dozen of the suspected repentant insurgents in military uniform, stormed the Kasuwan Fara police station in an attempt to rescue their arrested fellows. The Divisional Police Officer alongside his men were able to repel the attack while the perpetrators fled.

“Consequently, the assailants, in an apparent transfer of aggression, reverted to attacking NDLEA and NCS personnel checkpoint along the Maiduguri-Gubio road Kasuwan Fara, where they burnt down the checkpoints alongside the sandbags heaped on the road and fled the scene.”

However, Police Public Relations Officer in Borno State, Kenneth Daso, who confirmed that there was an incident at the police station, said the assailants were repelled by officers on duty.

Daso said the security breach was heralded by an operation carried out by the police.

He said, “On the 30/04/24 at about 1745hrs in a joint operation raid at the Kasuwar Fara, following an intelligence report that some drug peddlers, smokers, repentant and Boko Haram insurgents are indulging in nefarious activities, eight persons were arrested including seven male and a female in that operation with 476grams of illicit substances.