A Chinese national has been arrested in Borno State in connection with insurgency plaguing the area.
Recall that less than a week ago, four Pakistani nationals allegedly into terrorist training were nabbed in the same northeast.
That arrest and the latest were made by soldiers fighting the counter insurgency in the region.
Speaking to newsmen on Friday in Abuja, Director, Defence Headquarters Media Operations, Major General Markus Kangye was coy about the identity of the Chinese.
In his speech with which he acquainted the media with the developments, Kangye disputed the suspect’s claim of being a miner.
According to him: “Troops arrested five terrorists logistics suppliers, collaborators, and a Chinese national claiming to be a miner during well-coordinated operations conducted in Kukawa and Ngala LGAs of Borno State, as well as Geidam LGA of Yobe State between 5 and 7 June 2025. Amongst the items recovered were a vehicle, a motorcycle, mobile phones, a Chinese International passport, while the sum of N10,000.00 was also recovered from them.
“Anybody that is caught, just like you know with criminals, they will just deny involvement. But the question is: what brought him(Chinese) there at the time of arrest? Why was he in an operational area where our troops were conducting operations?”
He also relayed the operational challenges the troops bear saying: “People must understand that our troops are not in every village.
“Sometimes, incidents occur 10 to 15 kilometres from the nearest military base. Before deployment, the appropriate subunit must be identified, a commander appointed, and vehicles and supplies secured. All of this takes time.”
