Just In: Secret Police DSS Foils Major Terror Plot in Sokoto, Details Emerge
- DSS officers intercepted a cache of weapons smuggled from Niger Republic into Sokoto State less than 70 days before the 2027 general elections
- Terror groups have reportedly begun using women and camels to move illegal weapons across Nigerian borders, with 14 female couriers arrested since February 2025
- A suspected female courier arrested in Zamfara State was allegedly supplying arms to a notorious bandit leader in the state
PAY ATTENTION: Mark Legit.ng as a preferred source, and our content will appear higher in your Google feed!
Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over four years of experience covering security issues and counterinsurgency in Nigeria and across Africa.
Sokoto, Sokoto State - The Department of State Services (DSS) has intercepted a large weapons cache smuggled from Niger Republic into Nigeria, in what the agency described as a foiled terror plot timed to disrupt the 2027 general elections, now fewer than 70 days away.
As reported on Thursday, November 12, by Daily Trust, DSS officers acting on intelligence recovered 21 AK-47 rifles, four PKT machine guns, and 825 magazines in Dawakawa, Goronyo Local Government Area of Sokoto State. The seizure followed sustained surveillance of terror cells believed to be moving deadly weapons across the country's northern borders.
Source: Twitter
A security source said that as the DSS intensifies interceptions across multiple states, criminal networks have changed tactics, now relying on women and camels to ferry weapons.
The source added that operatives have also tracked down at least one field commander allegedly tasked with orchestrating violence before and during the elections.
The Punch also noted the update.
DSS arrests 14 female arms couriers
The latest arrest came earlier in the week in Talata Mafara Local Government Area of Zamfara State, where DSS officers detained a suspected courier, Hafsat Umar, with 12 grenades and two ammunition belts. Intelligence indicated Umar had travelled to Niger State to source the ammunition for delivery to a bandit leader, Saidu Marafa, based in Kani Kawa, Maradun LGA of Zamfara State. She is the 14th female arms courier arrested by the DSS between February 2025 and November 2026.
Previous arrests span Zamfara, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Taraba, Kaduna, and Plateau States. Last month, Aisha Mohammed was arrested in Keffi, Nasarawa State, allegedly moving weapons through a dealer and kidnapper known only as Sani. Recovered from her were 202 rounds of 7.62mm AK-47 ammunition and three empty magazines.
In September 2026, two women, Chika Aguzie and Blessing Nwamba, were arrested at separate locations in Ebonyi State for allegedly supplying weapons and explosives to commanders of the outlawed Eastern Security Network, including Chinonso Amobi Okafor, also known as Temple, and another identified as B44, reportedly based in Anambra State. Fourteen wraps of IED detonators were recovered in that operation.
Earlier arrests include Rabiatu Halidu, caught in August with 501 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition in Nasarawa State; Aisha Ibrahim, arrested in February in Zamfara State with 975 rounds; and Sakina Muhammad alongside Badariyya Abubakar, apprehended in January along the Wukari-Jalingo Road in Taraba State, carrying an AK-47 rifle, 984 rounds of special ammunition, 105 rounds of GPMG ammunition, and 14 empty magazines.
Source: Twitter
DSS secures terrorism convictions against 3 women
The DSS also recorded multiple arrests in 2025, including Rahane Sanusi in Zamfara State, who was allegedly transporting ammunition to bandit leader Ibrahim Bare in Anka LGA, as well as Suwaiba Abubakar, Halima Umar, Firdausi Haruna, Saidya Ibrahim, and Fatima Sani, with arms and ammunition recovered from each.
The Federal High Court in Abuja has already handed down convictions in related cases. Three women, Halima Abdullahi, Safiya Salihu, and Halima Umar, were each sentenced to 20 years in prison on terrorism-related charges following their prosecution by the DSS.
Read more on insecurity in Nigeria
- US interference: Ex-military head of state breaks silence on what Donald Trump must do to Nigeria
- The Country of Particular Concern 'trap': What the US Senate got wrong about Nigeria’s crisis
- List of killed Imams and mosques attacked by bandits that led to significant loss of lives
Terrorists kidnap, kill 106 health workers
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that armed groups, criminal kidnappers, and terrorists abducted 91 health workers and killed 15 others across 101 separate attacks on Nigerian healthcare facilities between 2023 and 2025, according to a new international report.
The figures come from the 'Care in the Crosshairs: Violence Against Health Care in Conflict 2025' report, published by the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition. The data was compiled using Insecurity Insight's global monitoring system and covers incidents across the three-year window.
Source: Legit.ng
