By Kingsley Omonobi

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) disclosed on Friday that it has activated investigation into the arrest of a Chinese national claiming to be a miner during a well-coordinated operation conducted in Kukawa, Ngala LGA of Borno State and Gaidam LGA of Yobe State by troops of Operation Hadin Kai between 5 – 7 June 2025.
Major General Markus Kangye, Director Defence Media Operations, who made this known at a briefing, noted that the Chinese national has been detained and he is undergoing interrogation.

He said, “Everybody that is caught, they will deny saying that I am not involved in this cause, I am not involved. But the question is, what is he doing there at that time of arrest? And why was he in an operational area where our troops were conducting operations?

“That is the first question we are going to ask. So the Chinese national has been detained and he is undergoing interrogation.

“When the interrogation is completed, then we will be able to fully show you the details of why he was there in the first place, how he was arrested, whether he was the only one there or he had accomplices. All this will be recorded after further investigation.”

Major General revealed that, during the operations, some terrorists were eliminated while one drug peddler was arrested.

“Also, 3 kidnapped victims were rescued. The troops also recovered arms and ammunition as well as IED-making materials, motorcycles, and vehicles amongst others.

He said troops arrested 5 terrorists logistics suppliers, collaborators and the Chinese national claiming to be a miner during a well-coordinated operations conducted in Kukawa and Ngala LGAs of Borno State as well as Geidam LGA of Yobe State between 5 – 7 June 2025.

Amongst the items recovered were vehicles, motorcycle, mobile phones, Chinese International passport, while the sum of N10, 000.00 was also recovered from them.

He also noted that troops of Operation Hadin Kai responded to information about terrorists’ activities in Gwoza and Abadam LGAs of Borno State as well as Nangere LGA of Yobe State from 6 – 9 June 2025.

“During the encounters, troops killed some terrorists and rescued 3 kidnapped victims. Some weapons and ammunition were recovered from them. Their camp and equipment were burnt institutions.

Speaking on other successes in the North East he said, “From 6 – 11 June 2025, scores of terrorists comprising adult males and females as well as children surrendered to troops as operational tempo heightened up during the week.”