A suspected Boko Haram arms supplier and detained Nigerian soldier, Abba Gesh, has escaped from the Joint Investigation Centre (JIC), a military prison located at Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, SaharaReporters reported on Sunday.
It was learnt that the prison, over the decade, has been known for detaining hundreds of suspected and confirmed Boko Haram terrorists arrested during the ongoing insurgency in the Northern part of the country.
Though SaharaReporters could not establish when Gesh escaped from the facility, security sources revealed he was last sighted on November 26 at Malari, also in Borno State.
Gesh, a member of the Nigerian Army Special Operations Command (NASOC) was earlier in the year arrested for selling ammunition worth millions of Naira to Boko Haram terrorists in Geizua.
“Abba Gesh, a Special Force previously attached to 222 Battalion. He was arrested in the NE for selling ammunition to BHTs in Geizua. But he escaped recently from JIC Maiduguri custody,” an internal memo by the military obtained by SaharaReporters read.
“He was sighted on November 26, 2023, at Malari near HQ 222 Bn. He was seen with AK-47 rifle and about 4 hand grenades. His intention is to kidnap locals for ransom.
“Meanwhile, I have been directed to facilitate fmns/units, military intelligence, MPs to brief their tps at CP on the need to apprehend and arrest him by any means if seen loitering within AOR.”
In 2022, the immediate past Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Leo Irabor condemned the increase in cases of military personnel aiding and abetting terrorists, bandits, killer herdsmen, and other criminals in the country.
Irabor had in a letter sent to all commanders of various operations, which was exclusively obtained by SaharaReporters, asked them to sensitise their officers to the implication of collaborating with the enemy.
He cited several incidents of soldiers arrested in connection with the activities of Boko Haram and other terrorists, including the arrest of a soldier who conspired with a known terrorist informant Babagana Kura in Bama, Borno.
“Recent happenings in various TOOs reveal an increase in cases of aiding and abetting by personnel. This development was revealed in different reports of arrests of military personnel within a short period of time,” the letter signed on behalf of the former CDS by one CE Oji had read.
(SAHARAREPORTERS)
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