An operative of the Department of State Services (DSS) on Monday told the federal high court in Abuja that two suspected commanders of the Ansaru terror group standing trial for alleged terrorism received weapons training in Libya.
The operative, identified as ABC for security reasons,
testified before Emeka Nwite, the presiding judge, while being led in evidence
by David Kaswe, counsel to the prosecution.
Testifying as the first prosecution witness, ABC said the
defendants admitted that foreign instructors in Libya trained them on how to
handle weapons and manufacture improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
He added that the instructors were from Egypt, Tunisia and
Algeria.
Mahmud Usman and Abubakar Abba, the defendants, are facing
terrorism-related charges.
The witness told the court that Usman was arrested after
intelligence reports identified him as the leader of Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina
Fi Biladis Sudan (Ansaru).
He added that Abba was arrested by DSS operatives at the
Ugwan Musa bypass in the Kaduna north LGA of Kaduna state.
According to the witness, the defendants admitted to being
members of Ansaru, which he described as a breakaway faction of Boko Haram
allegedly involved in terrorism, kidnapping, banditry, armed robbery and
illegal mining across several parts of the country.
He said the suspects also confessed that meetings held in
2012 led to the establishment of the Ansaru group in Jigawa state.
The witness further told the court that Abba admitted to
participating in a 2020 attack on a Nigerian Army formation in Wawa, which
allegedly led to the death of several soldiers.
He said the defendants also confessed to kidnapping Alhaji
Musa Umar Uba, an in-law of the late former President Muhammadu Buhari, as well
as an immigration officer and customs personnel.
The DSS operative added that Abba also admitted to swearing
allegiance to Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), which allegedly
supplied the group with arms and ammunition.
During the proceedings, Bala Dakum, counsel to the
defendants, opposed the admissibility of the defendants’ confessional
statements.
However, the prosecution insisted that the statements were
obtained voluntarily and in the presence of a lawyer from the Legal Aid Council
in line with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.
In a ruling, the judge ordered a trial within a trial to
determine whether the confessional statements are admissible in evidence.
The judge subsequently adjourned the case to April 13 for
the trial-within-trial.
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