Terrorism: Security agencies intensify surveillance in S’East Security agencies have intensified intelligence and surveillance operations in the South-East to curb the incursion of Boko Haram into the zone.It was gathered that the arrest of 486 Boko Haram suspects in Abia State, jolted the security agencies and made them to revise their strategy to include new security measures and high level intelligence-gathering to safeguard the zone from insurgent attack.The identification of a Boko Haram kingpin among the suspects, was said to have sent a strong signal to authorities that the midnight travellers might be terror moles sent to lie low in the South-East zones for future attacks.It was also learnt that the plot to bomb the Winners’ Chapel, Owerri, Imo State, recently reinforced the belief that the seed of terrorism might have been sown in the South-East by nefarious elements using the “Boko Haram franchise” for their own criminal goals.Security sources stated that the police for example, had increased their surveillance capacities and were working to ensure that the violent sect did not compound the security challenge in the country by extending its bloody campaign to the southern zone. A source said, “The security agencies have been working hard to forestall Boko Haram from embedding themselves in the southern part of the country and extending their bloody campaign to the zone. We have stepped up surveillance operations and intelligence gathering capabilities and the partnership between all the services is great.”The source, who declined to reveal other measures being taken by the security authorities for strategic reasons, explained that the Boko Haram incursion into the southern part of the country portended disastrous consequences for the nation.Our correspondent was informed that the attempted bombing of Winners’ Chapel in Imo State, was another strong indication that terrorism was fast spreading to nearly every part of the country.It was further gathered that the security agencies were under pressure to forestall terrorist attacks in the major cities and densely populated towns, which might precipitate grave social unrest in parts of the country hitherto unaffected by the security crisis in the country. The Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, stated that the police had been on red alert for a while, noting that the increased intelligence capacity of the Force and collaboration with other security agencies made the arrest of the 486 terror suspects possible.Asked whether the police had increased surveillance in the southern zone of the country, Mba said every part of the country was being well-policed, adding that no part was getting more attention than the others.He said, “The police have increased their intelligence capabilities and working in collaboration with other security agencies, we were able to arrest the 486 suspects in Abia State.” PRIME CHRONICLE
Posted on: Mon, 23 Jun 2014 06:05:23 +0000
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