Nigerian police arrested three alleged Hezbollah operatives in possession of a large weapons cache that they planned to use against Israeli and Western targets.
According to a May 30 statement by the military spokesman of Kano in northern Nigeria, Ikedichi Iweha, the arrests took place between May 16 and 28, the Reuters news agency reported. The three suspects are Lebanese nationals who admitted during questioning to working for Hezbollah, Iweha said in the statement.
In one of the suspects’ dwellings, police found dynamite, 11 anti-tank weapons, four anti-tank landmines, two rounds of ammunition for an artillery gun, 21 rocket-propelled grenades, and 17 AK-47s with more than 11,000 bullets, the statement said.
“The arms and ammunition were targeted at facilities of Israel and Western interest in Nigeria,” Iweha said, Reuters reported.
In related news, Nigerian court sentenced an alleged member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and a Nigerian accomplice to five years in prison this month over an illegal shipment of mortars and rockets seized in the main port of Lagos in 2010.
Last year, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor said during an address before members of the Security Council that Hezbollah was “heavily establishing itself in western Africa.” — jta