“Foremost in this line, was the arrest of a gang of five (5) kidnappers, Abubakar HASSAN, Usman MUSA, Usman ADAMU and Idrisa Babangida AHMADU at Ife junction, Osun State, on 3rd February, 2016.

“On 5th February, 2016, the fifth member of the gang, Saidu ISYAKU was arrested at Ojo area, Oyo State. These kidnappers, Six (6) AK 47 rifles, five (5) magazines and about one thousand rounds of ammunition were recovered.

“This gang has been active in the South West axis of the country and were at advanced stages of kidnapping high value targets for huge ransom, before they were intercepted.

The intelligence agency also said it recorded another breakthrough in the fight against kidnapping with the killing of one Abubakar Mohammed, (aka BUBA), and an unidentified member of his group, on 8th February, 2016 close to Jebba Medical Centre, Jebba, Kwara State. The Service said security operatives killed the kidnap suspects as they tried to escape during a shootout with security operatives.

According to DSS, Mohammed was a notorious kidnap kingpin known for his brutality and various acts of lawlessness.

The agency said Mohammed and his men had terrorized, to no end, residents of the South West zone and was also linked to the kidnap of the elder statesman, Chief Olu Falae, in Ondo State.

Also, DSS said in the wake of vandalism of oil pipelines by criminal elements in the South-South region, it arrested one Nengi Samuel Ikiba aka Kockman Abula, a notorious pipeline vandal on 27th January, 2016, in Bayelsa State.

Ikiba confessed to vandalizing several pipelines in the State, including the 24” Agoda/Brass Oil pipeline at Idema community in Ogbia LGA of Bayelsa State.

“The modest success of the Service in its support to the Federal Government to achieve its desired economic objectives and stability may also be noted,” said the Service.

In the same vein, DSS said it busted a group of fraudsters who had concluded plans to hack the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) domiciled in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation in order to steal N4.5b from the Treasury Single Account (TSA).

The gang was led by one Sunny OKOH, a hacker who worked in collaboration with the trio of Uwem Udo Ekpo, a Chief Program Analyst in the OAGF, Maxwell EKENE, a retired security operative and Dozie EGWU, based in Malaysia and who is now at large.