The campaign against terrorists in the North-East intensified with the capture of a top leader of Boko Haram and the killing of about 70 insurgents at the sect’s stronghold in the notorious Gwoza Hills, Borno State.
"On Thursday, soldiers arrested a top member of the Boko Haram around the Gwoza Hills after the battle of Wednesday night when troop took over the hills.
"The Boko Haram member must be a very high ranking member of the group if not the head because he had several Toyota Land Cruiser jeeps in his escort when he was captured.
"Another thing is that they didn’t want anybody to know his identity; the commanders immediately flew the man to Abuja; as we are talking, the man is being interrogated there."
A highly placed security source confirmed the arrest of the Boko Haram leader to Punch but would not make any further comment on the issue for security reasons.
Investigations by Punch revealed that the leader was arrested on Thursday evening while he was trying to flee the bombarded Gwoza Hills with some black Toyota Land Cruiser sports utility vehicle in his escort.
It was learnt that the Special Forces captured him alive and flew him immediately out of Borno State to Abuja for interrogation in one of the military formations in Abuja.
An inside source said that the arrest of the man suspected to be one of the topmost commanders of the deadly sect (if not the leader), had triggered anxiety among security agents in Borno State.
Security officials believe that the captured Boko Haram leader might be a very key person to the operation of the sect for him to have such a massive and luxurious escort comprising Toyota Land Cruiser vehicles.
The special forces waited for the convoy of the insurgents on their way to Bama when an intelligence report was received that they (the insurgents) were on their way to launch another attack. They were moving in 15 trucks loaded with fighters when they ran into the ambush of the troops.
The troops destroyed seven of the trucks which caught fire and killed about 30 of the insurgents. However, it was stated that the insurgents escaped with eight of the vehicles in the convoy.
It is believed that the Boko Haram members have gone into hiding to strategize for another attack.
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