Troops of the Nigerian military attached with Operation Hadin Kai have arrested 18 soldiers, 15 mobile policemen and 8 civilians, including a traditional ruler, for allegedly supplying arms and ammunition to non-state actors.

This is just as the Theatre Commander, Operation Hadin Kai, Abdulsalam Abubakar, a Major-General, accused foreign mercenaries of providing training for members of Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), terrorising the Northeast.

Daily Trust reports that the latest arrest and revelation came less than a week after Borno State governor, Babagana Zulum, raised the alarm that some military officers and politicians are informants and collaborators for the terrorists following the resurgence of attacks in the state.

Briefing Defence Correspondents on the activities of the Joint Task Force North-East operation from 2024 to 2025, who were on a fact-finding mission to the theatre of operation in Maiduguri, the Staff Officer Grade Two OPHK, Major Ademola Owolana, said a stringent measure is being put in place for culprits.

Owolana said the successes were recorded under Operation Snowball, which was launched in August 2024 to counter ammunition racketeering in the theatre, adding that the operation was being conducted across 11 states.

He listed Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Ebonyi, Enugu, Lagos, Plateau, Kaduna, Rivers, Taraba and the Federal Capital Territory as the states where some of the suspects were arrested while carrying out their nefarious activities.

"So far, a total of 18 soldiers, 15 mobile policemen and 8 civilians, including a traditional ruler, have been arrested. Preliminary findings from the ongoing investigation reveal community pressure on serving security personnel to supply arms and ammunition for communal conflicts as driving factors," he said.

He emphasised that the "Lucrative nature of trading in ammunition is also a driving factor for its persistence", adding that the theatre also recorded significant progress in the fight against terrorists' logistics suppliers and their collaborators.

The senior officer revealed that one Sgt. Ameh Raphael, an armourer of the 7 Division Garrison, who has been in the trade since 2018, and Sgt. Seidi Adamu of 3rd Division Ordnance Services, who has also been in the trade since 2022, had over N45 million and N34 million respectively in their accounts.

Owolana further disclosed that the investigation also revealed that a whopping sum of N135 million was discovered to have passed through the account of a policeman identified as Insp. Enoch Ngwa, who was arrested for arms racketeering.

"A few soldiers motivated by greed are involved in ammunition racketeering, deliberately diverting arms from the military stockpiles and supply chains to terrorists. Such actions erode battlefield morale, reduce troops' effectiveness, and strengthen enemy resistance.

"The most recent incident occurred on 24th February this year when a soldier of 144 Battalion was arrested with 30 rounds of 7.62mm specials at Tashin-Karo, Kano by a military police K-19 on route search operations.

"Consequently, the theatre has continued to warn troops at all levels of the severe repercussions and sanctions of ammunition racketeering.

"Those found culpable have been dismissed and handed over to the police to serve as a deterrent," he said.

Owolana also said from January 2025 to the date, over 186 terrorist logistics suppliers, spies and collaborators have been arrested across the theatre of operation.

He, however, lamented that a lack of tracking devices has continued to mitigate the arrest of logistic suppliers.

He accused some non-governmental organisations of supplying food items to terrorist locations under the guise of humanitarian assistance.

Speaking further, the command expressed concerns over the proliferation of drugs and narcotics, which it said enhances terrorist operational capabilities.

He said to counter this threat, the Joint Intelligence Mission Centre, a military intelligence base and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intensified efforts to disrupt these networks.

Highlighting the theatre's achievements, Owolana recalled that terrorists in May 2024 issued a vacation order, leading to a mass exodus of civilians in Kukawa town.

However, operation Hadin Kai subsequently issued an operational order for stabilisation operation mobilising seven excavators, and construction of watch towers, surveillance masts and barricades.

According to him, the operation successfully led to the return of over 10,000 locals to their ancestral homes.

He said troops of Operation Hadin Kai killed 694 terrorists, and recovered 603 assault weapons, 56 RPG bombs,16 mortar bombs, 147,137 units of anti-aircraft weapons, 16 pick-up vehicles, among others.

He added that the Joint Task Force has recorded over 12 drone incidents since 2004 to date.

He revealed that as a countermeasure, the Nigerian Army in 2022 established the Nigerian Army's Unmanned Aerial Base Command, which has continued to play a vital role in support of ongoing operations across the theatre.

The Theatre Commander of Operation Hadin Kai, Abdulsalam Abubakar, a Major General, disclosed that the infiltration of foreign mercenaries in the joint operations area has significantly escalated the threat posed by terrorist groups.

Specifically, Abubakar said the foreign mercenaries facilitate tactical and strategic training for these terrorists, leading to the use of drones in the theatre, revealing that four Pakistani nationals are involved in arms running with the terrorists.

He added that the recent development of armed drones for attacks and surveillance on troops potentially illustrates the refinement of the terrorist tactics, techniques, and procedures by mercenaries, advanced improvised explosive device fabrication and placement of public traps.

"The growing influence of these mercenaries is evident in the terrorists' increasingly coordinated assets, resulting in higher casualties among troops and greater equipment losses.

"This alarming trend calls for an immediate coordinated response, including intensified intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations, as well as strong collaboration between Nigeria and neighbouring nations to disrupt the cross-border support network," Abubakar said.

According to him, the Boko Haram/Islamic States West African Province terrorists were not waging war against the armed forces but against Nigeria.

He said the war against insurgency was an asymmetric warfare that was difficult to fight, urging the media to treat terrorism as a war against the nation.

The theatre commander said troops had continued to make sacrifices to ensure that communities affected by the activities of Boko Haram/ISWAP were stabilised.

He added that the military had also ensured that human rights were upheld in all the lines of operation where they needed to carry out military action.

"We have our troops here in the field spreading to different locations during these harsh weather conditions, which can rapidly become very cold at night.

"So, there are heroes, and I tell you, we will do well to appreciate them occasionally, and the only way to do that is through the media.

"These are also Nigerians and it is not the terrorists against the armed forces; it is the terrorists against Nigeria as a nation," he said.

The Chief of Staff, Operation Hadin Kai, Brig.-Gen. Adamu Ibrahim, explaining why terrorists' wives were not being killed or prosecuted, said that Nigeria was a signatory to the international law of armed conflict.

Ibrahim said the law explicitly protects combatants who are no longer actively participating in the fighting, as well as women and children.

According to the chief of staff, Boko Haram are Nigerian citizens and are fully eligible to have wives and children.

"As long as their wives and children do not take up arms and engage in direct combat operations, then they are not Boko Haram combatants.

"The Nigerian military fully enforces and upholds human rights laws, and as such, we would not violate the laws against Boko Haram by engaging their families," he said.

Meanwhile, the troops attached to the Forward Operating Base, Molai in Konduga Local Government Area of Borno detected and diffused 6 big bombs planted by the terrorists along Kumala when the criminals were crossing to the Sambisa Forest.

Acting Commander of the FOB, Major Darush Yusuf, said since the Chief of Army Staff and other top military echelons visited them to boost their morale with substantial welfare, the operation tactics have changed.

Daily Trust reports that Molai, located along Damboa Road, was attacked and occupied by the terrorists in 2019 before it was later liberated.

Yusuf said the farmers in the area are being given cover in the area when cultivating their crops during the rainy season.

In the same vein, the Commanding Officer at Tungushe, also under Konduga, Lt. Col. Christian Kunle Okupe, told journalists that farmers in the community are happy with the presence of the military, hence the reason the Civilian JTF supports them during the operation.

Intelligence expert, Abdullahi Garba, has emphasised the need for a robust welfare system for frontline security officers, stating that such support is essential before enforcing strict measures against those involved in ammunition racketeering.

"I will advise that the military should maintain the tempo of giving the frontline officers better welfare, to deter those selling arms to the criminals," he said.