Three members of a Boko Haram killer squad responsible for attacks and killings in Gwoza Local Government Area were yesterday nabbed in Maiduguri – thanks to a victim’s brother who wrestled one of them to the ground before calling for help.
“The three members of the terrorists group ran out of luck when a relative of one of the victims killed in Gwoza recognised one of them and quickly alerted some Civilian JTF personnel,” says LEADERSHIP Weekend while reporting on the incident which took place in the Borno State capital in North-East Nigeria.
The paper quotes eyewitnesses as saying that the man, one of the displaced Gwoza residents who fled to Maiduguri in search of refuge, sprang into action when he identified one of the killers of his elder brother.
“The displaced Gwoza man was being driven in a commercial tricycle (Keke Napep) when he sighted the suspected killer of his brother who died during an attack on their community in Gwoza local government. He immediately jumped out of the Keke Napep and held the suspect with whom he began to wrestle. We never knew what was happening until the man began to shout ‘this is Boko Haram man that killed my brother in Gwoza, please come and help me catch him. He was the one that shot my brother.’ That was how members of the Civilian JTF gathered and arrested the man whom they later handed over to soldiers nearby,” said an eyewitness, who said his name should not be mentioned.
The paper says it was further gathered that when the angry mob wanted to lynch him, the suspect, who became jittery, pleaded that he should not be killed because he was not the only member of Boko Haram that came into Maiduguri.
“He did not argue or even deny being labelled as Boko Haram. Instead, he confessed that we should not kill him; that if we do, then the two others that came to town together with him would escape. He volunteered to go and show the soldiers where the two others were putting up in Maiduguri,” said the source.
•Photo shows Civilian JTF members.
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