The Benue State Civil Protection Guard has arrested four people who claimed to be members of the National Hunters and Forest Security Services.

The group, National Hunters, is reportedly said to be in the vanguard of armed bodies fighting against the Boko Haram insurgency in Borno State.

They were arrested in Aliade, the headquarters of Gwer Local Government Area, with the support of local vigilance members.

The commandant, Captain Ajovi Ajobi (retd) of the Benue State Civil Protection Guard, stated that the self-acclaimed hunters, who had previously fought insurgents in the North East alongside conventional security forces, arrived in the state two days before their arrest.

Hassan Abubakar and Mohammed Maiduguri said they were part of a group of 28 people brought from Nasarawa State by a Chinese construction company.

In their statements under investigation, they said their mission was simply to help in protection while they expressed surprise at their arrest by the Civil Protection Guard.

They stated that their original assignment was in Nasarawa State, where a notification letter had been sent to the Department of State Services.

Joseph Har, the Security Adviser on Internal Affairs to Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia, said, “The arrest of these four suspects, as first responders, revealed that 24 others were in Benue, prompting the police to search for and apprehend them.”
Har said that the suspects were not consistent with their statements.

He added that the four suspects would be handed over to the police for further investigation.
Items recovered from them included two pump-action guns and cartridges.