A HIGH Court sitting in Sokoto State has sentenced three men, including a foreign national, to death by hanging after finding them guilty on charges bordering on terrorism and arms proliferation.
News Point Nigeria reports that the convicts—Yusuf Muhammad (alias Sallau), a Nigerien national; Jabbi Alhaji Yalle; and Kabiru Muhammad were arrested on 13 June 2025 by the Department of State Services (DSS) Counter Terrorism Unit over alleged cross-border criminal activities involving arms trafficking and terrorism.
The case, marked SS/45c/2026, was heard before Justice Muhammad Nuraddeen Bello of High Court No. 23, Sokoto.
Delivering judgment, Justice Bello declared all three defendants guilty as charged and sentenced them to death by hanging. The court also ordered the forfeiture of all monetary exhibits recovered from the convicts to the Federal Government.
He further described the conviction as part of a wider pattern of successful prosecutions by the DSS in its ongoing operations against terrorism and organised cross-border criminal networks across Nigeria.
“The conviction is the latest in a series of successful prosecutions by the DSS in its sustained operations against terrorism and organised cross-border criminal networks across Nigeria,” Justice Bello stated.
The ruling comes about two weeks after the Federal High Court in Abuja sentenced five other suspects—arrested by the DSS on May 31, 2026—for their involvement in the November 21, 2025 attack on St Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, Niger State.
Justice Binta Nyako had earlier sentenced the five defendants to 25 years’ imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to four terrorism-related charges.
The charges included support for acts of terrorism and violations of Section 16 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, as well as provisions of the Firearms Act.
According to Count One of the charge sheet, the defendants were accused of conspiring to assist terrorists by coordinating the movement of 15 AK-103 rifles and about 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition from the Diffa region of the Republic of Niger to one Malam Ahmad, a Boko Haram member operating in Borgu, Niger State.
The act was said to constitute an offence contrary to Section 26(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Security sources confirmed to News Point Nigeria that the DSS arrested the convicts at different locations during coordinated operations linked to ongoing counter-terrorism efforts.
