The Department of state services (DSS) has revealed details of an operation that led to the arrest of 10 suspected Boko Haram/Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) members in Ilesa, Osun State.

The operation took place at an old bungalow near St. Mary Catholic Church, Ifofin, and Ogbon Idio in the Ilesa-East Local Government Area.

The raid occurred at midnight on Monday, December 16, 2024, and involved a team of around 30 DSS operatives.

The arrests were made public on Friday, January 10, when the DSS filed a request at the Federal High Court in Abuja to detain the suspects for 60 days.

The suspects arrested were identified as Adamu Abubakar (aka Abu Aisha), Babagana Bashuli, Muhammed Adam, Mustapha Abacha, Katuru Muhammed, Babakura Abacha, Muhammed Ciroma, Ali Gambo, Muhammed Umoru, and Muhammed Bundi.

The DSS stated that the suspects were caught undergoing training on the manufacturing and detonation of explosives.

Preliminary investigations revealed that they were affiliated with Boko Haram/ISWAP.

The operation that led to the arrests spanned 90 days and involved two separate DSS teams.

The first team arrived in Ilesa in late September, while the second team joined in mid-November 2024.

“Osun command was not involved in the operation because the first signal on the activities of members of ISWAP in Ilesa was compromised,” a source said.

On Thursday, January 16, another highly credible source said, “The operation was carried out in the wee hours of that day at Ifofin, Ilesa, and it went well. There was no gunshot at all, and that prevented people from knowing about it.

“The undercover agents arrived in Ilesa last September 2024. They lived and interacted with people in the area and were able to pin down the exact location of the suspects.

“After confirming the locale and the activities of the suspects, a tactical team was sent from the headquarters, and the officers understudied the environment for another 30 days. The suspects were arrested with ISWAP materials and bomb-making equipment.

“None of the personnel who carried out the operation lived in Osun, and the majority of them left immediately after they arrested the suspects. The last batch of the team left last Saturday.”

The officer revealed that following the operation, several senior DSS officials, including the ‘PSO’, were reassigned from Osun to other states.

He also mentioned that approximately 150 personnel had already been transferred prior to the operation’s conclusion.

“After the operation, the Osun PSO and some other senior officers were transferred out of the command. Before the operation was finalised, more than 150 personnel in Osun were deployed in the northern states, including Benue, Jigawa, and Bauchi, for reasons known to the service,” he added.

A security source stated that the DSS had been monitoring certain ISWAP members since 2023, following intelligence indicating their plan to attack a church in Ilesa..

“In 2023, there was intelligence that ISWAP wanted to attack a church in Ilesa. A signal was sent to the police, but unfortunately, it was leaked, which jeopardised our operation to arrest the suspects. We have been tracking them since then,” he stated.

He also revealed that members of ISWAP were involved in the bank robberies in Iree and Iragbiji, located in the Boripe Local Government Area of Osun State, in 2021.

The source added that this was not the first time the DSS had arrested suspected ISWAP/Boko Haram members in Osun, noting that in 2022, several suspected terrorists from Sokoto and Zamfara states were apprehended in Ile-Ife.

“We arrested some in 2022 in Ile-Ife. In the course of that operation, the palace of a monarch was raided, likewise some other people in the town,” he said.

Another security source confirmed that the DSS operatives had been monitoring the suspects for several months.

The source clarified that the individuals arrested were not residing in the same house.

“They were picked up in Ogbon Idio and Ifofin areas of Ilesa, in Ilesa East Local Government Area of Osun State, on December 16. They were not staying in the same house but lived close to each other.All of them are watch repairers, and they sell glasses and watches too.

“There are many Hausa residents in the neighborhood where they were picked up, but those who carried out the operation knew exactly those they were looking for, and they went straight for them.

“Even some of their kinsmen could not still believe they are suspected members of ISWAP, but those that arrested them have strong reasons to suspect them,” the source further said.

It was revealed that one of the suspects arrested in Ilesa, Abubakar (also known as Abu Aisha), was a wristwatch dealer located at the popular roundabout in the town.

The other suspects had been living with Abubakar, who had resided in the house for several years.

A resident of Ifofin, who requested to remain anonymous, stated that the arrests caused confusion among other northerners in the area, as well as some members of the mosque where the suspects regularly prayed.

“Abubakar is a known person. He sells wristwatches at Ilesa roundabout. He was arrested alongside some of his people living with him before dawn that day. The security people came with about five vehicles in the midnight. Though I didn’t see them, I could hear the sound and movement of the vehicles and the sound of ‘move’ when they were arresting those people,” he said.

“When it was dawn and there was no information about where Abubakar and his people were taken to, some of the northerners and the Muslims in the mosque they usually prayed in started visiting one police station after another to ask for them. They even visited the army barracks at Ibodi, but there were no traces of them. The lack of information about their whereabouts created confusion for their people.”

A group of Hausa men had gathered at the open-air mosque next to Durojaiye House, close to Ogbon Idio Junction in Ifofin.

Some were returning from their daily hawking, carrying trays filled with wristwatches and other small goods, while others prepared for prayer, washing their hands and feet in quiet reverence.

Among them was Mohammed Borni, a leader of the Hausa community, who sat on a prayer mat surrounded by his people.

Borni shared his account of the arrest of his fellow community members.

“It happened around 1am. We were surprised when the security men came and took them away. It is about two months now, and we haven’t seen or heard from them after their arrest. Before now, we had gone to the police area command several times to look for them, but the police said they were not even aware of their arrest,” he said.

When asked whether he had suspected the arrested men of being criminals or having connections to insurgent groups like ISWAP, Mohammed vigorously shook his head, saying, “They are not like that. They sell wristwatches and MP3 players.”

Another community leader, Abba Chellu, clarified that the DSS had arrested 11 individuals in two separate operations within the area.

“They (security operatives) were more than 30 officers that came, and they came twice. The first was on a Sunday, around 1.30am; they arrested five people and came back on Tuesday to arrest another six people.”

The incident has sparked worry among local residents, who expressed concerns about living alongside suspected terrorists.

Bimpe Olaiwola, a tailor in the area, said she was shocked to learn that the suspects had been arrested for their ties to terrorist groups.

“We have lived with them for years peacefully, but when we heard that some were taken away as suspected terrorists, we became more cautious. Everyone is now on edge, watching their backs. I just pray the authorities help us drive out any real terrorists because some of us are truly afraid,” she said.

Another resident, Tope Niyi, mentioned that the local community had become increasingly alert and watchful.

“Many of them are in Ilesa, doing menial jobs and riding Okada. We can’t stop them; but we must be security-conscious. People are genuinely scared,” he said.