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By Lizzy Chirkpi
The Department of State Services (DSS) has arrested five suspected arms traffickers, including two foreign nationals, in connection with the November 2025 abduction of nearly 300 students and staff from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Niger State.
Security sources said the suspects were part of a network responsible for supplying weapons and ammunition to the gunmen who carried out the mass abduction that shocked the nation.
Among those arrested are Yusuf Mohammed, popularly known as Bature, a wanted member of Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (Boko Haram), and his associate, Mubarak Ibrahim.
The pair were reportedly intercepted by operatives along the Zaria-Kaduna Highway while en route to receive a shipment of weapons intended for terrorist commanders.
Their arrest led investigators to another suspect, Goni Ibrahim, an alleged international arms courier from the Diffa Region of Niger Republic. He was apprehended alongside an accomplice, Tukur Sani, during a follow-up operation.
Security operatives recovered a cache of weapons concealed in a blue vehicle used by the suspects, including 15 AK-103 assault rifles, 15 magazines and 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition.
Days later, operatives tracked and arrested another alleged member of the syndicate, Alhaji Adamu, also known as Gado Banufe, in Yauri, Kebbi State. He is believed to be a major arms supplier operating within the North-West region.
According to security sources, preliminary investigations indicate that the five suspects served as key arms couriers for the gunmen responsible for the attack on St. Mary’s Catholic School on November 21, 2025.
The attackers reportedly stormed the boarding school on motorcycles in the early hours of the morning, rounded up students and teachers at gunpoint and whisked them away, triggering one of the largest school abductions in recent years.
The latest arrests are being viewed by security officials as a significant breakthrough in efforts to dismantle the logistics and supply networks sustaining armed groups and mass kidnapping operations across northern Nigeria.