Troops of Enduring Peace said it recovered AK-47 rifles and other weapons during a planned attack on Mwar Community, Chakfem Kingdom in the Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State.

The Nigerian Army, in a statement on Thursday, said that the recovery of the weapons followed a credible human intelligence on Wednesday.

It added that the intelligence exposed an imminent threat by suspected bandit militias. 

“Preliminary findings indicate that the planned attack may have been linked to the reported rustling of an unconfirmed number of cattle allegedly by some youths from the community,” it said. 

It said that troops were immediately deployed to conduct a fighting patrol and raid suspected locations, with the dual objective of recovering the missing cattle and apprehending those responsible.

It stated, “On arrival in the area, troops employed drones and other surveillance capabilities to conduct extensive reconnaissance across surrounding settlements and bush locations in search of the missing cattle.”

The army noted that no traces of the cattle were found after a systematic search and intelligence identified Pantong Stanley and other youths from the community as suspected perpetrators. 

“Acting on the intelligence, troops conducted a snap raid on the residence of Pantong Stanley, who was not present at the time of the operation. 

“The operation, however, yielded the recovery of one AK-47 rifle, one locally fabricated AK-47 rifle, one locally fabricated revolver rifle, two Dane guns and 15 rounds of 7.62mm Special ammunition,” it added.