Court Grants DSS Permission To Detain Bandits Negotiator, Tukur Mamu For 60 Days

A Federal High Court in Abuja has granted permission to the Department of State Services (DSS) to detain Kaduna train hostage negotiator, Tukur Mamu, for 60 more days.

DSS Detains Tukur Mamu

The presiding judge, Justice Nkeonye Maha, gave the ruling on Tuesday in response to an ex-parte motion moved by Ahmed Magaji, counsel for the DSS.

The judge said the decision is to enable the DSS to conclude its investigation of Mamu in relation to some alleged criminal conduct, adding that the secret police are to report back to the court on the state of its investigation at the expiration of the 60 days.

In the motion marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1617/2022 dated and filed September 12, DSS had urged the court to grant its reliefs to enable it to conclude its investigation on Mamu, who had been leading the negotiation with the terrorists for the release of the Abuja-Kaduna train passengers kidnapped since March.

Mamu, who was at the forefront of negotiations for the release of the Abuja-Kaduna train captives, was arrested with his family in Cairo, Egypt’s capital.

The publisher of Desert Herald was detained with his family members at Cairo International Airport while they were on their way for lesser hajj in Saudi Arabia.

The Egyptian authorities repatriated Mamu back to Nigeria before he was arrested again by DSS operatives at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano.

The Kaduna publisher, who is currently in the custody of the DSS to answer questions related to some critical security matters, was arrested together with his family shortly after he was repatriated to Nigeria from Egypt.

On Thursday, DSS operatives stormed Mamu’s residence and office, and recovered military accouterments, different currencies and denominations and other “incriminating materials.”

But Mamu’s family said that the military accouterments found in his home belonged to his nephew who is an officer of the Nigerian Navy.

The family, who also accused the DSS of concocting false allegations in order to give the publisher a bad name, said that the total amount of the hard currency found in Mamu’s house if converted into naira is less that N1.5m.

KanyiDaily recalls that a security source had revealed that Tukur Mamu was arrested because of his “Strong ties with terrorist groups and N2bn ransom racketeering”