Papiri school Abduction: DSS Arrests 2 Foreigners, 3 others. Recovers 15 AKs

The Department of State Services (DSS) has arrested five suspected arms couriers, including two Nigeriens, linked to the November 2025 attack on St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Niger State, where nearly 300 students and staff were abducted.

Security sources disclosed that the suspects were allegedly supplying weapons to the gunmen behind the mass abduction.

Among those arrested are Yusuf Mohammed, also known as Bature, a wanted member of Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (Boko Haram), and his associate, Mubarak Ibrahim.

The duo were reportedly intercepted along the Zaria-Kaduna Highway while travelling to receive a consignment of arms for t+rrorist commanders.

A follow-up operation led to the arrest of another suspect, Goni Ibrahim, said to be an international arms courier from the Diffa Region of Niger Republic. He was apprehended alongside an accomplice, Tukur Sani.

Security operatives reportedly recovered 15 AK-103 rifles, 15 magazines, and 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition concealed inside a blue vehicle used by the suspects.

Days later, another alleged member of the syndicate, Alhaji Adamu, also known as Gado Banufe, was arrested in Yauri, Kebbi State. He was said to be a major arms supplier operating around the Kebbi axis.

According to the sources, preliminary investigations revealed that the five suspects acted as arms couriers for the gunmen who attacked the Catholic boarding school in Papiri on November 21, 2025.

The attackers, said to have arrived on motorcycles in the early hours of the day, stormed the school and rounded up students and teachers at gunpoint before whisking them away.