Boko Haram leader captured

From MOLLY KILETE. Abuja.

The Defence Head Quarters (DHQ) has arrested a Boko Haram leader, who relocated to neighbouring Niger Republic.

The suspect, whose name was not mentioned, was arrested alongside some of his accomplices at Karanga in Niger Republic last Saturday by members of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), with the help of the Nigerien forces.

Lately, the popular leader of the Islamist sect, Mallam Shekau, had been spotted on the hills of Borno State following the mop-up operations by the Special Forces enforcing the state of emergency imposed on Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states by the Federal Government.

Director, Defence Information, Brigadier-General Chris Olukolade, who made this known, said the leader of the group who had fled Nigeria after their terrorist camps were sacked, was reportedly recruiting fresh hands and training them for renewed terror attacks.

Olukolade, in a statement, said the sect was planning to regroup and carry out fresh attacks on some towns around the Nigeria-Niger Republic border before they were arrested.

He said intelligence operatives of the MNJTF had been on the trail of the leader until he was eventually arrested in Karanga, while his accomplices were captured in other villages in Nigeria. The suspects are being interrogated, he noted.