The Department of State Services has arrested five suspects, including two foreign nationals, over their alleged role as arms couriers linked to the kidnapping of students and teachers at St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri village, Niger State.
Security sources said the suspects are believed to have supplied weapons to armed groups responsible for the November 21, 2025 attack on the boarding school, where nearly 300 students and staff were abducted.
The arrested foreigners were reportedly from the Niger Republic. Among those detained are Yusuf Mohammed, also known as Bature, a suspected member of a Boko Haram faction identified as Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, alongside his associate Mubarak Ibrahim. Both were intercepted along the Zaria–Kaduna Expressway while allegedly moving to receive a shipment of arms for their commanders.
A follow-up intelligence operation led to the arrest of another suspect, Goni Ibrahim, described as an international arms courier from the Diffa region in Niger Republic. He was arrested with Tukur Sani, his alleged accomplice, after security operatives intercepted them in a blue vehicle reportedly loaded with weapons.
Recovered items included 15 AK-103 rifles, 15 magazines, and 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition.
Days later, another suspected arms supplier, identified as Alhaji Adamu, also known as Gado Banufe, was arrested in Yauri, Kebbi State, for allegedly coordinating arms movement within the region.
Investigators believe the five suspects formed part of a wider logistics network supplying weapons to the gunmen who carried out the Papiri attack on St Mary’s Catholic School, a St Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri.
During the November 2025 assault, armed men on motorcycles stormed the school in the early hours, abducting students and teachers at gunpoint. While about 50 students escaped during the chaos, more than 250 others were reportedly taken into the Kainji Lake forest area.
Authorities later confirmed that all remaining captives were rescued and reunited with their families in December 2025 following coordinated government operations.
