We get weapons from DSS operatives — bandits
Armed bandits terrorising different parts of Nigeria say that they have been receiving arms and ammunition from operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).
They also alleged that the agents get part of the ransom payments made by families of kidnapped victims, adding that the spoils are usually shared at gunpoint.
The criminals told Deutsche Welle (DW) in a recent report that they “borrow weapons” from the DSS agents and then go to work to share ill-gotten gains together.
The bandits also said some police officers have been a part of the conspiracy that has fueled insecurity across Nigeria which President Muhammadu Buhari has been accused of being too lazy to address.
A spokesman for the DSS did not return a request seeking comments about the claims, Peoples Gazette reported.
The DW report surfaced amidst widespread claims that Nigerian security forces are fueling insecurity for financial benefits.
In 2018, Theophilus Danjuma, a former chief of army staff, said the Nigerian military and other state agents were actively supplying weapons to violent criminals waging a war against minority rural settlers in Nigeria’s north-central.
The Buhari administration denied the allegation, but several indications have emerged repeatedly since then that appeared to show that the government was not as concerned about the raging crisis.
Last week, Buhari warned Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue, where armed militia elements have killed thousands and razed hundreds of villages since Buhari assumed power in 2015, to either accept the controversial ruga policy or continue to endure violence with his people.
Last month, Buhari also stood by Isa Pantami, one of his cabinet ministers who was recently exposed as a hardline jihadist and lover of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda and other groups and persons long associated with terrorism.
