CHIEF OF DEFENCE STAFF

Police ID cards found among illegal arms in Kano.

Security operatives have discovered two Police identity cards among the arms cache seized at a residential area in Mariri in Kano.
The northern city has suffered deadly attacks by Boko Haram in recent times, with the January 20 bombing by the sect claiming at least 186 lives.
The Director, Defence Information, Col. Mohammed Yerima, said during a press conference by the Joint Security Information Managers Committee in Abuja on Wednesday that the discovery came after a tip-off.
Other items recovered were 10 AK47 assault rifles, a teargas gun, 26 magazines, 107 rounds of 7.22mm special gun, and 27 assault riffles and 29 rounds of ammunition.
Also recovered were five wallets, a Nigerian passport, a briefcase and three mobile phones.
Yerima said an investigation to ascertain the identities of those in the identity cards and the passport had begun.
He added that the newly acquired warship of the Navy, the NNS THUNDER had recorded its first major arrest in the waters of Lagos and Calabar.
Yerima said a cargo ship, MT Takoradi, with one million litres of diesel was impounded on January 26.
He said MT Takoradi had been handed over to another Naval ship, NNS Beecroft in Lagos.
Yerima said the impounded ship could not provide documentary proof of the one million litres of diesel it was carrying.
According to him, NNS thunder made the arrest while on a routine patrol in aid of Operation PULO Shield put in place by the Defence Headquarters to fight incidence of illegal bunkering in the Niger Delta.
Yerima on the recent attack on the facilities of the Nigeria AGIP Brass-Bonny Pipeline, the security chief said the JTF had taken steps to address the situation.
Yerima who gave the names of those behind the AGIP attack as Friday Burutu, Lord Onipa, Robinson Agagudu, Eyala Karo, Para Ekiye and Erasmus Umokoro, said it was not possible for the Federal Government “to run an infinite Amnesty programme.”
He said the JTF had since given an ultimatum to the suspected culprits to report at the headquarters of the task force.
He called on indigenes of the Niger Delta to team up with security personnel to fight the activities of those hiding under the banner of the former leadership of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta to commit crime.
He warned that “there could be collateral damage if individuals and communities decide to provide sanctuary to these enemies of the society.”