Air Force officer arrested over alleged involvement in banditry

Nigeria Airforce (NAF) said it has arrested one of its officials in connection with the bandits that attacked the National Defense Academy (NDA) in Kaduna State.

NAF’s official statement said the official named Torsabo Solomon of 153 BSG is attached with the Airforce Comprehensive School Yola.

Solomon was arrested on the order of the Base Commander as requested by the NDA Commander for an offence connecting with arms and ammunition with a recent bandit attacked on the military academy.

NAF said the arrested official will arrive at one of its “flight line to convey him from Yola to NDA KADUNA for further interrogation.”

Bandits, on August 24, invaded the Afaka barracks of the NDA where they killed a naval officer and kidnapped another.

The assault on the NDA, which trains the country’s military officers and those from other African countries, was seen as too daring although attacks on bases by jihadists waging a 12-year insurrection in the northeast are common.

On September 17, Nigerian troops raided a camp where the kidnapped officer was being held in the Afaka area not far from the military academy, the army said in a statement.

The bandits engaged the troops in a gunfight and “in the process, the gallant troops were able to rescue the abducted officer,” it said.

“However, the officer sustained a minor injury but has been treated in a medical facility and handed over to NDA for further action,” it said. (Text, excluding headline, courtesy AFP/The Guardian)