SSS Interrogating Boko Haram Suspects After Failed Rescue Attempt

After last sunday failed attack by Boko Haram, The Nigerian State Security Service (SSS) are busy trying to find out if  external collaborators were involved.
After the attempted jailbreak at the Abuja SSS facility, some suspects who where immediately arrested has been released after they presented valid identification cards which proved they were civilian passers-by.

A source in the SSS states that they are actively interrogating some suspects who where arrested. He said: “We are de-briefing all the detainees to determine how the plot was hatched and if external collaborators were involved.

 “We may also look into the likelihood of internal collaboration, although the strict system of recruitment might make it impossible. This is the only service that conducts serious security checks before employing its operatives. “What we are doing involves interaction with these detainees by a team of officials, who have been mandated to dig deeper into the foiled jailbreak.”

As for the Board of Inquiry proposed by Jonathan, the source said its normal and after such event it was expected.

He revealed: “It is a routine thing in a crisis situation like this; it is not an indictment of the SSS. It is also not prejudicial to any internal investigation of the jailbreak by the SSS. “The audacity of the Boko Haram detainees accounted for the Board of Inquiry option so as to prevent a reoccurrence in any security agency or military facility.

“Beyond the outcome of SSS investigation into the incident, the Board, which may comprise sister agencies, is to examine all particulars concerned with any event or challenge.” Regarding the intervention of soldiers at the SSS facility, the source said: “The fact is that there is a new security framework in place to promote inter-agency cooperation.

“Once there is any challenge in any military formation or security agency, the new framework will trigger alarm for Rapid Response by other sister agencies. “The soldiers merely responded to this alarm on Sunday by coming to the SSS headquarters.

 This is the technical or security justification for soldiers’ intervention. It is not as if the SSS was incapable of managing the situation. There were indications last night that some suspects around the SSS headquarters, who were arrested in Abuja on Sunday, have been released based on the service’s respect for human rights.