{"id":122189,"date":"2025-09-12T06:30:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T05:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=122189"},"modified":"2025-09-12T06:30:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T05:30:57","slug":"ansaru-commander-jailed-15-years-for-illegal-mining-faces-31terror-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ansaru-commander-jailed-15-years-for-illegal-mining-faces-31terror-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"Ansaru Commander Jailed 15 Years for Illegal Mining, Faces 31Terror Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Lizzy Chirkpi<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday sentenced Mahmud Usman, a commander of the proscribed terrorist group Ansaru, to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to engaging in illegal mining operations.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Delivering judgment, Justice Emeka Nwite ruled that Usman\u2019s mining activities were carried out to fund terrorism and kidnapping. The judge ordered that he remain in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) pending trial on 31 other terrorism-related charges.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThe convict has admitted guilt. The sentence of this court is 15 years\u2019 imprisonment,\u201d Justice Nwite declared.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The matter was adjourned to October 21 for continuation of trial.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Usman and another defendant, Abubakar Abba, are being prosecuted on a 32-count charge filed by the DSS. Prosecutors alleged that the two men, in 2022, coordinated several terrorist operations, including the attack on the Nigerian Army\u2019s Wawa Cantonment in Kainji, New Bussa, Niger State, which left many soldiers dead.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">They were also accused of masterminding the July 2022 Kuje Prison attack, during which more than 600 inmates escaped.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to the charges, Usman and Abba allegedly received training in weapons handling and bomb-making at terrorist camps in Nigeria and abroad, and also underwent advanced war tactics training from a terrorist group based in Mali.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Federal Government further linked them to plans to attack a uranium facility in Niger Republic, a series of kidnappings including that of French engineer Francis Collomp in 2013 and the 2019 abduction of Alhaji Musa Umar Uba, Magajin Garin Daura as well as several armed robberies.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The conviction marks the first in a series of terrorism cases against Usman, with prosecutors describing him as a \u201ckey financier and operational commander of Ansaru\u2019s terror network.\u201d<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lizzy Chirkpi The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday sentenced Mahmud Usman, a commander of the proscribed terrorist group Ansaru, to 15 years in prison after he&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":122191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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