JTF Arrests Top Boko Haram Member In Maiduguri

SAN FRANCISCO, January 13, (THEWILL) - The Joint military Task Force (JTF), Operation Restore Order, in Borno State, Sunday, said one Mohammed Zangina, a top member of the Boko Haram sect has been arrested in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

JTF spokesman, Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, who disclosed this in a statement, described the 30-year-old Zangina, who according to him, was arrested around the Maiduguri GRA, as the commander and Shura committee member of Boko Haram.

The JTF spokesman said Zangina was arrested while trying to coordinate several deadly attacks being planned against civilians and security installations.

Zangina a.k.a Mallam Abdullahi, who is also known as Alhaji Musa, according to the JTF spokesman, was the leader of Boko Haram in the North Central zone of the country.

He is believed to have coordinated most of the suicide attacks and bombings in Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, Jos and Potiskum.

According to Musa, Zangina is a key member of Shura committee of the sect and among those declared wanted with a bounty of N25 million placed on him last November by the JTF.

Musa also disclosed that the arrested Boko Haram leader had at various times in the past survived several security manhunts in his hideouts in those towns he had laid siege on.

He stressed that Zangina arrest was effected by the JTF troops following a special operation conducted in the GRA area of Maiduguri.