Boko Haram leader, witch doctor arrested

A local leader of the Boko Haram Islamic sect, Abakar Ali a.k.a Moustapha Oumar was arrested in Kousseri on September 23, in the course of a police/army patrol.

According to security sources, the house of the arrested leader had been serving as a store for the sect’s weaponry. The sources hold that this is the largest capture of arms within the last years. After his arrest, it was noticed that the suspect terrorist is a holder of both Cameroonian and Nigerian identification papers.

Speaking to The Post, a security source who requested that his identity be concealed, said: “For the moment, we cannot determine his nationality. When we arrested him, he had a Nigerian identity card with the name Moustapha Oumar and a Cameroonian identity card with the name Abakar Ali.”

At the moment of the arrest, Abakar was with two of his comrades, Mahamat Ali and Issiaka Gare, who lost a leg in the course of a gun fight in Nigeria. As soon as they were approached by security forces, they became very repulsive.

“We immediately knew that we were dealing with one of their leaders. He said he was worth more than 20 Cameroonian Government ministers. He wanted to show us that he was more precious than gold and we had to treat him as such,” a security officer added.

The three were immediately taken to Maroua along all the weapons and other artillery gotten from the house.

According to a source cited in an article published in L’oeil du Sahel newspaper, Abakar “had a vital role to play as far as logistics and finances are concerned. Kousseri is important for logistics and finances, as some few operations carried out target the balancing of internal accounts of the sect.”

In a related story, one of the terrorist group’s witch doctors was arrested in Fotokol by elements of the Rapid Intervention Batallion, BIR. He was arrested alongside two young terrorists who had fled from an exchange of gun fire at Gambaru Ngala.

Testimonies given by the young terrorists hold that the witchdoctor’s role was to indoctrinate, prepare the newly enrolled mentally and perform some rituals before they learn how to use arms.