Few days after an Iranian terror cell was discovered in Lagos State, SUNDAY PUNCH can authoritatively report that security agents are on the trail of three different foreign-sponsored terror cells in the country.
A senior security official who spoke to our correspondents on Friday said the sponsors of the terrorist cells were in Sudan, Somalia and Yemen. He, however, did not say if the sponsors are state entities or non-state entities.
The security official, who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said the terror cells were similar to the Iranian cell uncovered last week. He added that each cell was made up of four operatives. The handlers of the cells are believed to be in these foreign countries.
SUNDAY PUNCH learnt on Friday that an intensive search was on for members of the cells who went totally underground when their Iranian counterparts were discovered.
The State Security Service in Abuja had on Wednesday paraded a leader of an Islamic sect, Abdullahi Berende, and two others said to be members of the Iranian terror cell gathering information about Israelis and Americans living in Nigeria.
Fifty-year-old Berende, Sulaiman Saka and Saheed Adewunmi, were said to be working for Iranian terrorists planning to attack Americans and Israelis in the country. A third suspect, Bunyamin Yusuf, is said to be at large.
Deputy Director, Public Relations, SSS, Marilyn Ogar, had said Berende, an Islamic teacher and local leader of the Shiite sect, was observed to have made several suspicious trips to and fro Iran where he interacted with some Iranians known to operate a high profile international terrorist network.
The security source, who spoke to SUNDAY PUNCH under the condition of anonymity, confirmed that it was not only Iran that had terror cells in Nigeria.
“Iran is just one of the countries, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen are the others. They have Nigerians trained and sponsored by them operating in this country. They constantly give their sponsors information. The Iranian terror cell is just a tip of the iceberg. Terror groups in these other countries have always told investigators that they have their spies in Nigeria,” he said.
The source added that it was difficult to detect the cells because the operators had received advanced training.
“Some of them may be your neighbours and you will not know. And the interesting thing is that they may not carry out any terror attack even if they are in a neighbourhood for five years. Some are just there for information-gathering. They get involved in menial jobs like cobbling, sewing, security and petty trading in the community and pretend to be harmless, meanwhile they are watching everybody, eavesdropping on people’s conversations and writing down number plates of vehicles. They are trained that no information is useless,” he said.
Another highly-placed security source who pleaded anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject said, “Intelligence reports have always pointed to the fact that these terror-nations have high interest in Nigeria. They have cells here and it is not a new thing. It has been going on for years. Even Libya’s terror groups have cells in Nigeria.”
In addition to investigating the cells, the SSS, police and immigration are also investigating the nationals of some countries tagged “nations sponsoring terrorism.”
Top on the watch list of the nations are Iran, Mauritania, Yemen, Pakistan, Sudan, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and other Arab nations associated with violent fundamentalist Islamic groups.
Several Nigerians involved in terror-related activities are believed to have been trained in Yemen, Pakistan, Mali, Mauritania and others.
The spokesman for the Nigeria Immigration Service, Mr. Ekpedeme King, confirmed to one of our correspondents on Friday that some aliens in Nigeria were under surveillance.
King said the NIMS had also instructed local governments in the North-East not to give the certificate of indigeneship to anyone that could not prove that he or she was a Nigerian.
“The acting Comptroller-General just returned from a tour of the North-East states and one of the ways we have decided to monitor the activities of terrorists is to monitor the people that are applying for the certificate of indigenship in the North. Some of them are not Nigerians but they collect this certificate and pretend to be citizens of this country.
“Apart from this, we have supplied more patrol bikes at the borders to monitor the people leaving and entering the country.”
Similarly, the spokesman for the police, Mr. Frank Mba, told one of our correspondents that the police had increased surveillance on aliens.
Mba, who declined comments on the discovery of the Iranian cells in Lagos, said, “Our approach to terrorism is to increase surveillance at the borders, improve on our intelligence and tighten surveillance around some aliens. I won’t be able to tell you the nationalities of these aliens but we are doing our job.”
In 2010, Nigerian security officials intercepted an Iranian arms shipment containing 13 containers of weapons, including artillery rockets and rifle rounds.
Reports say the shipment originally came from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. Those arrested in connection with the incident included an alleged Iranian Revolutionary Guards member and three Nigerian suspects.
In 2004, an Iranian diplomat was arrested on suspicion of carrying out espionage against the Israeli Embassy in Abuja.
As part of the strategies to contain terrorism in Africa, the United States set up the Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism Initiative, which is being funded with $100m a year for five years.
The sum was increased from an initial $6m programme that covered Chad, Mauritania, Niger and Mali to Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Nigeria and Senegal.
Meanwhile, plain-clothes soldiers in the North are searching for the French family that was captured on Tuesday in Cameroon. The hostages were brought into Nigeria by their kidnappers.
A presidency source told our correspondent on Saturday evening that the ministries of Defence and Police Affairs were currently coordinating the security agencies under them on the matter. The National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd), is also said to be involved in the mission to rescue the victims.
The source, who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said the issue formed part of the discussion at a meeting President Goodluck Jonathan held with some security chiefs on Wednesday evening.
“Soldiers in plain clothes are searching for them. We are under pressure to get the seven French hostages alive,” the source said.
Efforts to speak with the presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, on Saturday evening did not yield any result as he did not answer the calls made to his telephone lines.
But Abati had told State House correspondents on Thursday that the presidency was still waiting on security agencies for the details of the case.
Five armed men on motorcycles had attacked the French nationals when they were returning from a national park in the north of Cameroon.
Last Saturday, four Lebanese, one Briton, a Greek and an Italian were among those taken hostage by gunmen in Bauchi State.
Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina fi Biladis Sudan, also known as JAMBS had claimed responsibility for the kidnap.
The sect in December 2012 said was to be responsible for the abduction of a French engineer, Francis Colump, 63, in Katsina State.
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