The military has noted the possible movement of suspected terrorist elements from the North-East theatre of operation to the North-West, with sophisticated weapons.
The weapons, it noted, were being used by suspected kidnappers, bandits and other criminal elements, to terrorise residents of the area.
Coordinator, Defence Media Operations (DMO), Major General John Enenche, who made the disclosure at an operational briefing held at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja, yesterday, pledged the readiness of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, to track the suspects, and bring them to deserved justice.
He maintained that criminality, apart from being universal, had become an industry for the enemies of state, hence the movement of weapons and other dangerous equipment.
“Criminality is universal and jobs are also universal. It has become an industry so all manner of criminals have keyed into it. Last two weeks, some foreigners were caught here in Nigeria while rustling cattle.
“The banditry has become cross regional, so it is not an impossibility that terrorists who were dislodged from the North-East will key into banditry in the North-West.
“They have migrated to using sophisticated weapons to attack because those who were dislodged from the North-East moved with their weapons.
“We are still studying the situation and monitoring the modus operandi.
“Kidnapping has become an industry. Their business is criminality, so there is a possibility that they will migrate to the North-West,” Enenche said.
In a related development, the coordinator stated that a total of 104 bandits were killed in operations across the North-West.
He added that the feat was attained between July 2 and 9.
“Interestingly, a total of 104 bandits were deleted from this zone of the country for the period under review.
“The Armed Forces of Nigeria has continued its major operations across the country with renewed vigour and attendant successes,” he said.