Security Officers Arrested Over Boko Haram Links

The JTF said it had arrested a
number of security personnel over links to Islamist
extremist group Boko Haram, whose insurgency
has killed hundreds of people.
The arrests came after soldiers from a special
military unit deployed in the northeastern city of
Maiduguri arrested an immigration officer, Grema
Mohammed, for allegedly being an active member
of Boko Haram, a military spokesman said.
Boko Haram is blamed for deadly attacks that have
killed more than 1,400 people since 2010 as part of
an insurgency in northern and central Nigeria.
The arrest "led to further arrests of some other
security personnel that had been participating in
various terrorist attacks in Borno and Yobe states,"
Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa said of the two
states in northeastern Nigeria, where Boko Haram
has been based.
He did not specify how many arrests had been
made.
"He confessed to being an active member of the
Boko Haram terrorist sect which he joined long
before the 2009 crisis," Musa said in a statement in
reference to a 2009 uprising by the group.
"He also confessed to having been trained
alongside 15 other members of the sect on weapon
handling, assassination and special operations in
Niger republic," Musa added, referring to the
neighbouring nation.
Grema was arrested over a month ago at a
checkpoint while allegedly impersonating an army
lieutenant, Musa said.
The suspect also confessed to the killings of some
senior civil servants, security personnel and
politicians who had spoken against the sect in Yobe
and Borno states.
He had also participated in attacks on police
stations, a prison and the burning of public schools,
Musa said.
There have previously been accusations of
involvement of some security personnel in the
attacks, which have grown increasingly
sophisticated.