SSS Arrests Two Students Over Threat to Bomb Aso Rock

Disclosing the arrest of two suspects in the latest of threats by members of the Boko Haram sect to bomb high profile buildings in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, spokesperson of the State Security Services, SSS, Ms. Marilyn Ogar, in a statement today (Wednesday November 2, 2011) disclosed that:

“The circulation of several text messages about plans by the Boko Haram to attack specific targets in Abuja, FCT, have become rampant, causing apprehension and panic among residents of the FCT and...


its environs. One of such messages alleged purported plans by Boko Haram to attack the Presidential villa and National Assembly on the 28th October, 2011. However, following painstaking investigations, the Service succeeded in tracing it to two persons who issued the threat text message with the aim of inciting a frenzy of fear and panic in the society. Both suspects aged 18 and 17 years, are boarding students in a secondary school in Kagara, Niger State."

During interrogation, the two secondary school students said they were motivated to send out the messages by an advertorial they saw in a National Newspaper requesting members of the public to volunteer information on the activities of Boko.

But after thorough investigation conducted by men of the SSS fail to link the boys to the deadly sect, according to the statement, both suspects were handed back to their school authorities. There parents were also advise to work more on them in the area of counselling.

The SSS also used to the opportunity to discourage parents from providing their teenagers with GSM mobile phones, saying it “exposes them to several societal vices associated with social networking which are easily accessed through mobile phones."