cell has been uncovered in Bompai, Kano State,
the Joint Task Force said on Thursday.
A large cache of arms and ammunition were
recovered and three persons were arrested in
connection with the armoury and the cell.
A Lebanese national currently out of the country
reportedly owns the premises where the
armoury and the cell were found at No 3, Gaya
Road, Off Bompai Road in the ancient city.
A statement by the JTF spokesman, Captain
Ikedichi Iweha, said the JTF operatives,
comprising officials of the 3rd Army Brigade in
Kano and the State Security Service conducted
the operations.
The operatives, he said, uncovered an
underground bunker in the premises where large
quantities of assorted weapons were hidden.
Iweha, who said the construction of the bunker
was special, listed anti-tank weapons, rocket
propelled guns and anti-tank/personnel mines
as some of the dangerous weapons found in the
premises.
He added that the weapons and ammunition
were concealed in coolers, drums and bags.
According to him, the latest recovery followed an
ongoing robust counter-terrorism investigation
by the SSS.
Confirming the existence of a Hezbollah cell in
the country, Iweha noted that the SSS had
arrested one Mustapha Fawaz, co-owner of
Amigo Supermarket and the Wonderland
Amusement Park, in Abuja.
The arrest of Fawaz, Iweha said, led to the arrest
of another Lebanese terror suspect, Abdullah
Tahini, at the Mallam Aminu Kano International
Airport with over $60,000.
He added, "Thereafter on May 26, 2013, one
Talal Roda, also a Lebanese with a Nigerian
Passport, was arrested in the same house.
"All those arrested have confessed to have
undergone Hezbollah Terrorist Training and
further implicated one Fauzi Fawad, also a co-
owner of Amigo Supermarket and Wonderland
Amusement Park."
In his reaction, Director of Defence Information,
Brig. Gen. Chris Olukolade described the
discovery of the arms and the arrest of the
Lebanese importers as "a major breakthrough."
The action of the JTF operatives, he said
demonstrated the commitment of security
agencies to ridding the country of illegal arms.
Meanwhile, the SSS said the weapons were
intended for use against "Israeli and Western
interests".
"This is the handwork of Hezbollah," Bassey
Ettang, director of the SSS said in Kano.
"You can also be sure that if a group like this is
existing, then it may even lend support to some
of the local terrorists we have on the ground."
Hezbollah is a Shia military and political
movement based in Lebanon considered by the
United States to be a terrorist organisation.
The sect was conceived by Muslim clerics and
funded by Iran following the Israeli invasion of
Lebanon, and was primarily formed to offer
resistance to the Israeli occupation.
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