They were said to be faking to be part of the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs from Baga, Leadership reports.
According to the Civilian-JTF operatives deployed to provide security for the arriving displaced people of Baga after the terrorists attacks last week, the arrested men had joined other IDPs to enter Maiduguri with the intention of spying for their colleagues in the bush.
Giving his confession, one of them, Gambo Muhammed, a 27-year-old native of Gaya in Kano State, said he was forcefully conscripted into the sect through diabolic means, adding that he was never a lover of the sect.
Muhammed, who was fished out by another conscripted but non-combatant Boko Haram member who was helping the Civilian-JTF to identify members of the sect that may have disguised as IDPs, said he had only killed six people since he was forced to join Boko Haram last year.
He explained that he was forced to join the Boko Haram sect after some members of the group threatened him and several others to kill them and their family if they refuse to pick up arms and fight against non-members.
“I and over 40 other young men were forced to become Boko Haram members in Baga town when Boko Haram gunmen came to round us up in the mosque.
“When we were taken to a bush camp near Konduga we were given some water that was used to wash off some Arabic inscription from a wooden tablet, and we were also given a fresh date that was rubbed with some substance to eat. After eating mine, I felt some internal heat, and then I began to sweat profusely; that was all that I could remember and I became a full member of the sect doing everything other members were doing including killing people.
“I killed only six people…and I swear it was not more than that figure; in fact I was even forced to do it when we went to Konduga and we wanted to forcefully take some people’s livestock of which the owners said they won’t allow us go with them even if it was for the purpose of doing “God’s job”. So, one of our leaders asked me to step out with my gun and ordered me to kill the people and he warned that if I refused to do as commanded, they would shoot me. So I had to shoot them all,” he said.
According to the Provost of the Civilian-JTF, Lawan Zanna, who led the team that arrested the three Boko Haram suspects, his team had so far arrested about 270 of such Boko Haram members who would join the IDPs to the camp either to escape being arrested or as spies.
He added that the three arrested Boko Haram members are still being investigated with a view to revealing where some of their members who may have sneaked into the state capital could be fished out.
Last weekend, Boko Haram launched an attack in Baga and 18 Nigerian female soldiers were reportedly kidnaped.
Boko Haram militants were said to have razed at least 16 Borno State towns and villages in another series of multiple attacks.
However, the coordinator of the National Information Centre, Mr. Mike Omeri, said Nigerian troops have launched a serious offensive against the deadly Boko Haram sect in an attempt to reclaim Baga and other parts of Borno State overrun by the insurgents.
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