Troops of the Nigeria Army had at the weekend made a startling discovery in some part of Borno state when a tip off led them to a grave containing huge cache of arms that could bring a trained battalion to its knees if allowed to be deployed by enemy force, officials said.
The recovered ammunition, by rough estimate, is worth over N20 million.
An arrested kingpin of the Boko Haram who had been on the trail of security forces was finally nabbed by the troops of the Nigeria Army, to whom he volunteered the secret of their ammunition dump.
The suspect who is still in detention of the military and whose name cannot be mentioned in order to avoid jeopardising an ongoing operation revealed the location of the Boko Haram secret armoury from where they periodically resort to arm themselves.
The troops guided by some operatives of the Civilian-JTF who had the knowledge of the location of the secret arms dump moved to the spot at one Gursum village near Alagarno where the suspect showed them a perfect grave yard that turned out to be a munition dump.
Upon careful unearthing of the grave, troops were shocked to find 36 boxes of .50MM ammunition amongst other high calibre of ammunition.
Briefing the press in Biu town of Borno state, during the ongoing operational tour of the Chief of Army Staff, the Theatre Commander Operation Lafiya Dole, Major General LEO Irabor described the recovery as monumental and one of the biggest recovery in a single operation.
“Three days ago we received an information regarding the activities of Boko Haram terrorists before they fled from Alagarno”, said the Theater Commander.
“We conducted some various scales of operation as well as specific operations that led to the recovery of arms cache in the village called Gursum, around Alagarno general area. There we had a very sterling discovery of Boko Haram terrorists burying large quantities of ammunition on the ground.
“This operation was in conjunction with the Civilian JTF because they led us through the routes. We recovered 36 boxes of .50MM which is equivalent to 12.7mm buried concealed as though it was a grave –
“We also got 5/20 lethal brief case as well as a mixture of 7.62 mm NATO and 7.62mm special. These ammunitions were all concealed in plastic containers which we recovered. In addition we got 1/81 NATO tube that was wrapped in cellophane and buried on the ground.
“During the operation we also discovered one generator, one HIlux vehicle and several motorcycles . Also on the 15th of April troops at Pulka were attacked by fleeing Boko Haram from Sambisa forest. And this was in the early evening of that day. in reaction to it, 7 Boko Haram terrorists were killed, and 4 AK 47 rifles were recovered. And the troops carried out the pursuit of Boko Haram terrorists into the forests. And that took them into the dark hours.
“The following day which was 16th April they went to exploit further in the pursuit and they discovered the following; the first was additional 4 bodies of Boko Haram terrorists, One AK47 rifle, One light medium gun, and one G3 rifle. Equally quantity 65 of by 7.62mm NATO ammunition, and Quantity 21 by 7.62mm special were recovered. They equally recovered 15 AK47 rifles, 36 hand grenades and 5 unexploded 60mm mortar bombs.
Experts have wondered how the insurgents got their arms or funds to procure the munitions. An online research revealed that 100 rounds of .50mm goes for about 240US, and if a box contains about 600 rounds, each box will go for about 1440USD, which is multiply by 36 boxes, the insurgents need about $51,840
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