Confirmed: Boko Haram Uses Cow and Camel to Transport Arms and Ammunitions Into Nigeria

News Agency of Nigeria reports  quoted the Nigerian Defence Magazine  that Boko Haram insurgents means of transportation of imported arms and ammunition into the country are:-

"....on the backs of cows and camels, Keke NAPEP, old model pick-up vans and jeeps" 

It stated that the unusual methods of bringing in arms and the influx of illegal aliens and Improvised Explosive Device materials through the country’s porous borders are the challenges confronting the fight against terrorism.

The magazine said that most of the small arms came to the Boko Haram insurgents through Libyan and Malian rebels on the back of camels and donkeys, desperate to exchange arms for money.

Recently, it was reported that about 20,000 RPGs the late Gadafi of Libya acquired, only 5,000 has been recovered and the rest are believed to be in the hands of some terrorist groups especially Boko Haram. 

The Defence Magazine stated that:-

 “.... the influx of illegal aliens, arms, ammunition and sophisticated IED materials into the country, has overwhelming challenge in  efficient and effective fight against terrorism,’

 Most  of these arms pass through the Northern Nigeria boarders with Niger, Chad etc

The waterways and sea ports in the southern zone provide another means through which  arms are trafficked to the country, via the ships, speed boats and canoes through the creeks.

Nigeria has over 4000km land borders and over 800km borders along the ocean. In some places, these border areas are mountainous; in some places, they are in the jungle. There are countless illegal routes into the country.

“The fact that some of the weapons are small, light and collapsible makes them easy to be concealed and moved on camels and donkeys’ back in specially crafted skin or thatched bags,’’ it said, stressing that some merchants of cows and grains in the region hid the arms and ammunition in empty fuel tankers, under vehicle engines and bags of grains and smuggled them in.

According to Punch Newspapers, Military special forces on Wednesday 2nd of October, 2013 said it carried out a major operation against the Boko Haram fighters at a  forest region between Borno and Yobe states.

 A security source said the special forces, who carried out an aerial surveilance of the area, discovered a major camp of the insurgents some kilometers away from the Yobe State School of Agriculture, Gujba, where about 90 students were murdered on Sunday.

 The source said that the operation was one of the biggest offensives of the Nigerian military against the Boko Haram since the declaration of the emergency rule by President Goodluck Jonathan in  Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

Investigations revealed that three Alpha jets, several heavy artillery weapons and a large number of ground forces of the Division 7 of the Nigerian Army in Borno and Yobe states participated in the operation

 Commenting on the operation  in the Punch Newspapers, one Godwin Pius stated that

"the choice of alpha jets launching the first salvo was a very professional decision by the airforce commanders, because alpha jet is meant for FGA, ie fighter ground attack. But this would have been complemented with a helicopter squad while the artillery levels the forest from their range. the ground troops can them do the mock up operation to finish the remaining elements of the terrorist"