Nigerian troops arrest Boko Haram food, fuel supplier; free 260 captives

The Defence Headquarters said a man who specialises in supplying fuel and food to terrorists was on Sunday nabbed in Daban Shata in the suburbs of Baga, Borno State.This was contained in statement issued by the Director of Defence Information, Maj.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, in Abuja.The director said that the military intelligence had been trailing him till he was eventually trapped in the early hours of Sunday.He added that the man was presently undergoing interrogation.Olukolade also stressed that the troops on patrol on Saturday located 260 women and children in the outskirts of Chalawa village in Adamawa, where they had been held up while trying to escape from terrorists.He said they had been returned to their various
communities in Madagali after undergoing the normal security profiling.“Some of them disclosed that they had to abandon their homes to escape from the terrorists when Madagali came under their attack.


“While others are actually abducted and taken there, the terrorists were, however, sacked from the Madagali recently.“A number of terrorists, however, died in an encounter with troops who caught up with them as they fled prior to the recovery of the women and children.“Some of the terrorists still managed to escape with varying degrees of gunshot wounds. Others who were captured, are now being interrogated by intelligence officers,” he said.Olukolade said a machine gun, some rounds of ammunition, as well as some motorcycles and bicycles were also recovered from the terrorists.He said that a member of the vigilante group serving as guide to the troops was, however, wounded.He added that the operation in Sambisa forest was ongoing as troops were methodically searching every aspect of the expansive terrain.