residential building-c*m-warehouse packed with
sophisticated military hardware at Bompai, a
highbrow area located within the precinct of
police and immigration headquarters in the
troubled northern commercial city of Kano.
The warehouse allegedly belongs to a foreigner
from the Middle East and located in Gaya Road,
Bompai GRA and within a striking distance to
the Police state headquarters and the
headquarters of the Nigerian Immigration
Service.
Security sources close to the military told
Vanguard, on condition of anonymity, in Kano
that the highly coordinated military operation
was carried out following a tip-off by a suspect
under investigation.
The elite troops were said to have stormed the
residence, picked up the occupants and in the
ensuing search on the suspected bungalow, large
cache of arms and ammunition were discovered
in the sitting room and some wardrobe in the
house.
The military source revealed that, "large
quantities of the military hardware were buried
in the house, while some were neatly concealed.
It took a trained officer in counter-terrorism to
discover the hidden mass weapon of war."
The security source further revealed that items
recovered from the 72-hour operation includes:
40 air-to-surface missiles, 50 cluster bombs, 200
rocket-propel launcher, eight AK-47 rifles, 200
military hand grenades, uncountable number of
live ammunition and certain military hard wares
deployed to destroy Armoured Personnel
Carriers, APC."
The dependable source said that the weapons of
war were evacuated to the headquarters of the
3rd Motorised Brigade of the Nigerian Army,
Kano, alongside two other arrested nationals of
the same Middle East extraction, in connection
with the shocking discovery.
The source stated that preliminary investigation
revealed that "three countries have been indicted
and the military high command is working to
ascertain the culpability."
However, a civilian eyewitness, who lives in the
neighbourhood, said he counted over "300
AK-47 riffles and I saw soldiers packing
ammunition using shovels into some large
containers from the house."
The account gave the name of the suspect as one
Ta'al, who appeared to be in his late 50s,
stressing that "Ta'al had been staying in the
house for the past five years alone without his
family, and lived a secluded life as he hardly
associate himself with people in the
neighbourhood.
"The suspect hardly received visitors and drives a
white Toyota Hilux, and doesn't keep late night."
However, the military authorities are keeping
sealed lips over the development as effort to get
their side of the story proved abortive.
When contacted, JTF spokesman in Kano, Capt
Ikediche Iweha, neither denied nor confirmed
the discovery, but pleaded understanding, saying
that "we are going to issue a
statement."
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