One person has been killed by suspected repentant Boko Haram insurgents at Barka Da Zuwa, a notorious black spot in Maiduguri where hardened criminals, dismissed soldiers, prostitutes, drug dealers and other criminal elements carry out nefarious activities.
The sad incident was recorded when attackers, dressed in military uniforms and carrying dangerous weapons, attacked the Ibrahim Taiwo Police Headquarters, housing the area command and divisional headquarters, along Baga Road in Maiduguri.
The attack was in an attempt to free some of their members arrested during a drug raid on a black spot known as Kasuwan Fara, along Gubio Road.
An eyewitness at Baga Road said the insurgents stormed Barka Da Zuwa, and started displaying weapons, killing one person, while several others escaped with injuries.
After the attack, a joint task force was said to have led an operation to Barka Da Zuwa and Kasuwan Fara along Gubio Road the next day, arresting suspects who were at the scene of the crime at the time.
Speaking with journalists after the state security council meeting at the government house, the state commissioner for information and internal security, Professor Usman Tar, confirmed the incident.
According to him, the police and other security agencies are abreast of the security situation, assuring that normalcy will be restored.
Tar added that the former terrorists were arrested by operatives of the Joint Task Force while engaging in drugs and other outlawed activities at Kasuwan Fara, a location closed down by the state government, for harbouring criminals and encouraging criminality in the neighbourhood.
On his part, the police commissioner, Mohammadu Yusufu, denied knowledge of the murder at Barka Da Zuwa. He, however, admitted that the police are in the custody of suspects arrested at Kasuwan Fara for criminal activities.
The Police Public Relations Officer of the Borno State Police Command, ASP Nahum Daso, said he heard discussions about the murder, but it was not officially reported.
He confirmed the raid and subsequent attack on the police station, the National Drug and Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), and the immigration checkpoint adjacent to the Maimalari barracks gate.
