Nigeria’s secret police, the Department of State Services, DSS, says it has arrested some suspected Niger Delta Avengers militants.
The DSS issued a statement on Friday, July 1, 2016, delivered to The Trent by email, in which the secret police says that it has arrested one Selky Torughedi, a close associate of former Niger Delta warlord, Tompolo.
The Niger Delta Avengers is the militant group responsible for recent attacks on oil installations in the Niger Delta.
According to the DSS statement signed by Mr. Tony Opuiyo, Torughedi, is suspected member of the Avengers and was arrested while planning to assassinate a serving military officer, M. B. Yahaya in Kaduna State.
“In a bid to stem the activities of vandals in the Niger Delta, this service effected the arrest of Selky Kile Torughedi, on June 17, 2016, in Calabar, Cross River State,” the DSS said in the statement issued by Tony Opuiyo, its agent
“Torughedi is an ex-militant and suspected member of the Niger Delta Avengers, and was arrested for planning to assassinate one MB Yahaya, a serving military officer.
“Torughedi, who is a close associate of Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo), had already conducted surveillance at the residence of Yahaya in Kaduna, preparatory to his plot when he was intercepted. He is also fingered as a sponsor of pipeline vandalism in some states in the south-south region. Suspect is currently assisting the service, with critical leads.”
Opuiyo said that in a related operation, the service arrested one Christian Oluba aka Sensor, another suspected militant with the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA).
“Sensor was arrested while perfecting plans to carry out explosive attacks on critical oil and gas pipelines, including critical storage points,” the statement.