A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday sentenced one of the two Ansaru leaders recently captured by the Department of State Services (DSS), Mahmud Muhammed Usman, aka Abu Bara’a, to 15 years for illegal mining.
Bara’a, who hails from the Okene Local Government Area of Kogi State, and Abubakar Abba, aka Isah Adam or Mahmud Al-Nigeri, who hail from Daura, Katsina State, were arraigned by the DSS on a 32-count charge of terrorism and related offences.
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Out of the 32 counts, Bara’a, who is the first defendant, pleaded guilty to Count 10, which was on illegal mining and the trial judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, consequently convicted him of the crime and sentenced him to 15 years imprisonment.
The second alleged Ansaru Commander, Abubakar Abba, who was arraigned alongside the convict, however, denied the economic sabotage offence slammed against him by the DSS.
Usman and Abubakar Abba were arraigned for terrorism by the DSS, but Usman pleaded guilty to count 10 in the 32-count charges, which bothered on economic crime.
While Abubakar Abba pleaded not guilty to the 32-count charges on terrorism offences, Usman denied only 31 counts.
During the arraignment, the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation (DPPF), Mohammed Babadoko Abubakar, alleged in the charges that the two defendants committed the crime between 2015 and 2024.
They were, among others, accused of bombing Wawa Military Cantonment in Borgu local government area of Niger State, receiving training in weapon handling and fabrication of improvised explosive devices.
The security agency alleged that they belonged to foreign terror groups, engaged in terrorism financing, kidnapping and received training on war tactics from a terrorising organisation in Mali.
In another charge, DSS accused them of kidnapping a Customs officer and another Immigration Officer who was killed while in their custody.
The Secret Police claimed that the accused persons collected ransom running into millions of naira from families of their victims before they were arrested by the DSS.
Similarly, they were accused of engaging in unlawful mining of mineral resources without a valid license, from which they also made millions of naira.
One of the charges by DSS against the two defendants is that the huge sums made from kidnapping ransom and unlawful minerals mining were deployed to the procurement of arms and ammunition, including improvised explosive devices.
The DSS further alleged that the two men received training on terrorism and war tactics in Sudan and Mali and also facilitated the same for their followers.
In another charge, they were accused of concealing information on terror attacks on various locations in Niger State.