A 25-year-old woman, Nafisa Usman, has been arrested in Kano by the Department of State Services (DSS) for allegedly transporting 200 rounds of live ammunition destined for bandits in Katsina State. Usman, a native of Zango village in Kankara Local Government Area, was intercepted at Unguwa Uku motor park after arriving from Nasarawa State. She reportedly purchased the ammunition in Lafia and concealed it in a package for onward delivery to forest-based bandits in Kankara. During questioning, Usman confessed to involvement in arms trafficking for the past two months, stating she worked with a man known as "Teso," who allegedly collaborates with a soldier in Lafia.
The consignment was intended for a bandit leader named Mallam Haruna, with Usman claiming financial transactions linked to the supply chain totalled about ₦5 million. She also named a Kano-based livestock trader, Sulaiman, as the person who introduced her to the network. Other bandits mentioned in her statement include Buba and Abu. Security sources confirmed that intelligence led to her arrest and that investigations are ongoing to dismantle the broader trafficking ring. The DSS said more arrests are likely as efforts intensify against cross-border arms movements in the North-West.
Nafisa Usman's arrest exposes how deeply embedded non-combatants have become in Nigeria's rural insurgency economy. The fact that a woman moved 200 rounds across state lines with apparent ease points to systemic gaps in inter-state security checks. If a two-month trafficking operation yielded ₦5 million, the full network likely moves millions more with little disruption. This pattern suggests current interdiction efforts are catching foot soldiers, not kingpins.
