The Department of State Services (DSS) has dealt a significant blow to cross-border arms trafficking networks after intercepting a large consignment of weapons and ammunition smuggled from the Niger Republic into Sokoto State.

The intelligence-led operation took place on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, at Dawakawa in Goronyo Local Government Area. Security sources said the suspected smugglers were transporting the weapons on camels through remote and difficult terrain along the Nigeria-Niger border in an attempt to evade surveillance.

Items recovered include 21 AK-47 rifles, four PKT machine guns, and 825 magazines. The weapons were allegedly destined for armed bandit groups operating across Nigeria’s North-West.

Officials described the interception as a major disruption of a suspected supply network that has been fuelling insecurity in the region. Porous borders, informal trading routes, and hard-to-monitor rural terrain have long been exploited by criminal networks, including bandits and other armed groups, to move weapons into communities in Sokoto, Katsina, Zamfara, and Kebbi states.

Vulnerable corridors frequently cited by security analysts include Illela, Sabon Birni, Isa, Gudu and Tangaza in Sokoto; Jibia, Kaita, Mai’Adua and Kongolam in Katsina; Zurmi and Shinkafi in Zamfara; as well as Kamba and Arewa Dandi in Kebbi.

The seizure is expected to yield further investigative leads on suppliers, transporters, and intended recipients. Security agencies say they will continue intensified monitoring of border areas to choke off the flow of illegal arms that have sustained attacks, kidnappings, and other violent crimes in the North-West.

Kogi State Police Command has confirmed the escape of two convicted inmates from the Okene Correctional Centre.

The Command’s Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Saliu Oyiza Afusat, said the incident occurred on Sunday, 8 November 2026, at about 10:30 a.m.

Afusat said the Command had received a report from the correctional facility and was collaborating with the Nigerian Correctional Service and other relevant security agencies to ensure the prompt re-arrest of the escapees.

She added that efforts were ongoing to track down and apprehend the fleeing inmates.

•IGP Tunji Disu

A Lagos-based barber, Babajide Adelowo, has died a day after he was released from police custody, where he allegedly spent 28 days following his arrest over suspected possession of firearms.

According to the family, operatives of the X-Squad of the Lagos State Police Command arrested Adelowo at his shop in Iba Estate, Iyana-Iba area of the state, on October 6 and released him on Tuesday, November 3.

The family, however, accused the operatives of subjecting him to severe torture while in detention.

They alleged that the barber was repeatedly suspended from a weightlifting rod with his hands and legs tied, leaving him unable to walk or feed himself without assistance.

The family also alleged that the police arrested him without a warrant, seized items from his shop and restricted his access to his family and lawyers during his detention.

The deceased’s uncle, Samson Adelowo, said, “They came to arrest my brother on the grounds that he owned firearms. They searched the shop, broke the ceiling and opened the water tank, but they could not find anything.“What I found disturbing was that they also took his generator, chairs and other materials from the shop. What was the connection between the allegation against him and the items they removed from his shop?

“They seized his phone and did not allow him to contact anybody in his family. We had to engage lawyers to follow up on the matter, but throughout the 28 days he spent there, the lawyers were only allowed to see him about two or three times, with restricted access at other times.”

According to him, the estate chairman, who accompanied the lawyers to meet the police team, was detained and made to part with N50,000 to secure his release.

“The estate chairman went with the lawyers to meet the team leader. He explained that Babajide was known in the community as a peaceful person and that he was one of the estate’s security officers.

But instead of listening to him, the officer allegedly threatened to detain him.

The chairman eventually paid N50,000 before he was allowed to go.

He said Adelowo’s condition deteriorated while in detention before he was eventually released to his family.

Adelowo’s wife, Mariam, told our correspondent on Saturday that her husband could barely walk and appeared extremely weak when the police handed him over to the family by the roadside.

She said the police brought him to the PWD bus stop in a vehicle and helped him into the family’s car before handing over a referral note from the Federal Medical Centre, Ebute Meta, alongside a bag containing medical supplies.

“When we saw him, he could not even walk properly. He was so pale and fragile. The police officers were the ones guiding him into our car. They told us to handle him carefully and take him straight to the hospital.”