The State Security Service, SSS, yesterday said that the three Lebanese businessmen detained in connection with armed cache uncovered in Kano were members of a terrorist organisation.
The agency which produced the three men before an Abuja Federal High Court disclosed that fresh information at its disposal revealed that the Lebanese were international terrorists operating in Nigeria and its environs.
The security agency also declared that it followed due process in their arrest and detention, contrary to claims in some quarters.
The SSS added that it had established that the detainees had committed more serious terrorism offences in the past and that they constituted a serious security risk to the country.
Counsel to the SSS, Mr. J. Osagie, said that the service was already partnering with international security organisations to unmask the operations of terrorists in Nigeria in order to root them out.
He, however, said that a more comprehensive charge detailing the atrocities committed by the accused persons would be filed in court soon. “My lord, we are already in court against the applicants (the Lebanese).
We are not doing anything that is not covered by law. We are before a magistrate court already. And I can confirm that we are taking steps to properly charge them before a high court, which has jurisdiction to try the offences of terrorism which we have established against them,” he added.
The high court had last Monday in Abuja ordered the SSS, the Inspector- General of Police and the Attorney-General of the Federation to produce the owner of Amigo Supermarket, Mustapha Fawaz, and three other Lebanese suspected to have imported arms into the country for alleged terrorist activities yesterday.
The other suspects were Abdallah Tahini and Tala Ahmed Roda who are presently in custody.
When they appeared in court yesterday, they were all wearing bathroom slippers. Two of them wore chinos trousers while the third wore jeans. Justice Adeniyi Ademola gave the order following an ex-parte application by the counsel to the suspects, Chief Robert Clarke (SAN), to enforce their fundamental human rights.
But in a counter-affidavit yesterday, the SSS said the ongoing investigation of the Lebanese had assumed international dimension that required time and advanced expertise to conclude. Clarke, who spoke for the Lebanese yesterday, urged the court to issue an order compelling the SSS to produce the applicants in court each time the case comes up.
He also sought another order compelling the security agency to allow selected lawyers to have access to the accused while in their custody.
Justice Ademola consequently granted the Lebanese the requests even as he gave them five days to respond to the SSS allegations contained in the counteraffidavit. The matter has been adjourned till July 12 for hearing. But immediately court rose yesterday, photojournalists who had bombarded the court began to take pictures of them. The Lebanese who initially protested had to cover their faces.
The suspects had sued the SSS, the AGF and the IG, challenging their arrest and detention. Meanwhile, gunmen yesterday killed two soldiers and others in Kwasakwasa Village in Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State in a fresh attack on the metropolis. Some security vehicles were also burnt in the attack which happened about 6a.m.
A resident of Kwasakwasa, a village located about 70 kilometres from Birnin Gwari, who did not want his name mentioned, said that about four vehicles belonging to security agencies were burnt.
But unknown to many Nigerians, about 104 members of the deadly Boko Haram Islamic sect are being detained in Lagos prisons. Of the number, 70 are being detained at the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prisons, while the remaining 34 are being held at the medium section of the facility, located in Apapa area of the city. Already, the Federal Government yesterday began dialogue with the suspects.
Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North, led by the Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Tanimu, led the committee members to the meeting with the sect members.
The 18-man committee first paid a visit to the Medium Prison and was received by the Deputy Controller, Mr. Tunde Ladipo. It held a one-on-one session with the 34 suspects being held there after which it moved to the Maximum Security section, where the Deputy Controller of Prisons, DCP, Mr. Olumide Tinuoye, received the team.
Also in the entourage were the Controller of Prisons, Lagos State Command, Katherine Onoye; the Assistant Controller-General of Prisons in charge of Operations, Mr. Nuhu Zuru; Head of Operations of the State Security Service, SSS, Mr. Raymond Nkemdilim and the state Prison Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Bisi Jeje. Taminu also debunked claims that the visit was aimed at releasing some of the suspects.
“The issue of release is usually contingent upon certain conditions. For now, we are more concerned with the release of vulnerable people and in this group of vulnerable people we have those people the security agencies have not been able to pin anything on them.
“We have seen those, who the Directorate of Public Prosecution, DPR, have advised their release. We have also seen some whom the security agencies have conceded that they have nothing against them. “These are the people that usually the committee advice that they be released.
But we have not seen any woman or child here but even at that I am sure the committee will make appropriate recommendations as usual even in the interim as far the issue of their release or non- release is concerned,” he added.
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