The Department of State Services has arrested five persons, including two Nigeriens, suspected to be arms couriers to gunmen who attacked St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri village, Niger State, abducting nearly 300 students and staff.
Items recovered from the men included a large cache of arms, comprising 15 AK rifles and 1,434 rounds of live ammunition.
According to credible security sources, Yusuf Mohammed, also known as Bature, who is on the list of wanted members of the Boko Haram terror organisation, and his accomplice, Mubarak Ibrahim, were arrested on the Zaria-Kaduna highway while on their way to collect a consignment of arms for their commanders.
The source added that a follow-up operation led to the arrest of Goni Ibrahim, an international arms courier from the Diffa Region of Niger Republic. Arrested alongside Ibrahim was one Tukur Sani, who was identified as his accomplice.
The security sources disclosed that, concealed in an unnamed blue car, both men were arrested along with 15 AK-103 rifles, 15 magazines, and 1,434 rounds of 7.62 mm live ammunition.
Days after the arrests, yet another member of the arms courier syndicate, identified as Alhaji Adamu, also known as Gado Banufe, who supplies arms around the Kebbi axis, was arrested in Yauri, Kebbi State.
The security sources disclosed that preliminary investigations had established that the five men served as arms couriers to the gunmen who carried out the November 2025 attacks on the Catholic boarding school in Papiri.
Dozens of gunmen on motorcycles had, in the early hours of November 21, 2025, stormed the Catholic primary and secondary boarding school, rounding up students and teachers at gunpoint. While about 50 of the children managed to escape in the chaos, over 250 others were marched for days into the Kainji Lake Reserve forest.
After slightly over a month following the attack, on December 21, 2025, the Federal Government and Niger State officials confirmed the rescue and safe return of the remaining 130 captives, with officials stating that not a single pupil remained in captivity.
