The Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) says it has arrested two suspects for supplying illicit drugs to the Boko Haram and Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) insurgents in the Lake Chad region.

The suspects were also alleged to be supplying uniforms and flag materials to the insurgents. This was announced in a statement by MNJTF spokesman Olaniyi Osoba on Thursday.

He said troops of the task force arrested one of the suspects (name withheld) along Kekeno-Cross Kauwa road in Borno and recovered a substantial quantity of substances and 198 parcels of Marijuana. 

“In a separate operation, another suspect was arrested along the Gubio-Damasak road. The suspected terrorists’ operative was driving a blue Toyota pickup vehicle with registration JAK 49 XA (Yobe) and was found with two sacks containing 19 bundles of clothing materials. 

“These materials were suspected to be intended for making uniforms and flags for Boko Haram and ISWAP fighters,” he said.

Mr Osoba said the troops also rescued three women and a baby, suspected to be family members of the terrorists, adding that they claimed to had escaped from the terrorists’ enclaves in the southern Lake Chad island in Marte LGA Borno. 

“The women and the baby are currently undergoing medical assessment and profiling. This operation marks a significant step forward in the fight against terrorism in the Lake Chad region, disrupting the supply chains that sustain these terrorist groups and rescuing innocent lives from their grasp,” the MNJTF official stated.

(NAN)