Boko Haram suspect nabbed in Abuja estate

Security operatives have arrested a Boko Haram suspect around an estate in Kuchibuyi, Kubwa area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, SaharaReporters reported Saturday. 

A top security source confirmed the arrest of the Boko Haram suspect on Saturday morning, saying he confessed he fled from Sambisa Forest to Abuja and had been wandering in the area.

“He was arrested on Friday around an estate in Kuchibuyi. The local vigilantes tied his hands and his legs with chains and brought him to the Department of State Services, Abuja. Earlier on, some AK-47 rifles and some cartridges used by security guards in an estate in the area had gone missing. We suspect they are working together. The Boko Haram suspect is undergoing interrogation,” a DSS source told SaharaReporters.

It was learnt that the residents of Grow Homes Estate, along Kuchibiyi, had been constantly under attack of kidnappers believed to be terrorists.

“One of the residents they released from their captivity weeks ago got home after paying N30million ransom. But he got home and died. He could not survive the trauma,” an estate association executive told SaharaReporters.

SaharaReporters had on October 28 reported that no fewer than three residents of Grow Homes Estate, along Kuchibiyi in the Kubwa area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were kidnapped.

The gunmen were said to have escaped through the bush track, which links the community to another village.

A security source at the estate had said that after storming the area around 9pm, the gunmen shot sporadically into the air to scare people away.

The source said: “On Thursday around 9pm, we (vigilante) heard a gunshot. After hearing the sound, we and some Nigeria Mobile Police (MOPOL) officers searched around to locate it.

“On our way, we saw one of us. He told us they were kidnappers, numbering over 20. He was shot in his hand. At that point, we heard another gunshot. They were shooting at us, while the officers were shooting too.

“We had to stop the counter attack because of their number. They took away three persons; a couple and a man. The kidnappers haven’t contacted anyone yet.”

A resident of the area also explained how the kidnappers disconnected the alert systems of the houses attacked before whisking their victims away.

Gunmen had also in March attacked the same estate and taken away at least nine persons.

A resident of the community had said the victims were taken from separate apartments in the estate.