Kaduna Train Attack Trials: How terrorists offered Tukur Mamu N50 million ransom share – Witness

An investigator with the State Security Service (SSS), on Tuesday, told the Federal High Court in Abuja that Tukur Mamu was offered a N50 million share by Shugaba, leader of the terrorist group, who attacked the Abuja-Kaduna bound train in 2022.

The SSS operative, who testified as sixth prosecution witness in the ongoing terrorism trial of Mr Mamu, the alleged terrorists’ negotiator, told trial judge Mohammed Umar while being led in evidence by prosecution lawyer David Kaswe.

The witness, who gave his testimony behind a shield for security reasons, said the group also asked Mr Mamu to teach them how to open a website for their terrorist activities.

He stated this while interpreting four voice notes played in the courtroom containing the defendant’s telephone interactions with the terrorists who held the abducted train passengers hostage.

The audio recordings were extracted from Mr Mamu’s mobile telephones during interrogation after he was arrested in Egypt and brought back to Nigeria.

“The first voice note that played was for the defendant (Mr Mamu) fixing a date for delivery of ransom.

“The second voice note that played for five minutes was the voice of Shugaba, the leader of the terrorist group.

“In the voice note, he was appreciating the defendant’s effort and asked him to remove N50 million for his personal use from a particular tranche of ransom sent to them.

“The last voice note that played, Baba Adamu, who is their spokesperson, was heard requesting the defendant to help them procure speakers and public address system for their preaching activities and the defendant responded that he was going to look into their request.

“They also requested that the defendant teach them how to open a website for their activities,” the witness said.

Mr Mamu has been in the custody of the SSS after his arrest on 7 September 2022 based on his suspicious relationship with the terrorists that carried out the March 2022 train attack along the Abuja-Kaduna railway.

At least eight people died in the attack while 168 people were declared missing, most of whom were believed to have been kidnapped.

The remaining 23 kidnapped victims only regained their freedom after six months in captivity on 5 October 2022, following the federal government’s intervention.

The federal government arraigned him on 21 March 2023, on 10 counts of terrorism, including aiding terrorist operations in the country.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Mamu was alleged to have convinced the terrorists to discuss ransom payments with individual families of the hostages of the train attack instead of the Chief of Defence Staff Committee set up by the federal government for his personal financial gain.

The terrorists that attacked the train sometime in March 2022 where scores of passengers were held hostage.

Mr Mamu was alleged to have collected ransoms on behalf of the terrorists from families of hostages, confirmed the amount and facilitated the delivery of same to them.

The prosecution witness, while being led in evidence on Tuesday, by the prosecuting lawyer, told the court that after Mr Mamu was brought back from Egypt, he submitted his Samsung tablet and two phones to SSS officials.

The witness said he was one of those who investigated the case.

He told the court that when the defendant was intercepted in Egypt, he put a call to his in-law identified as Mubarak Tinja and directed him to move out all his valuables, comprising of cash, cars and other items of values, from his house to a safe location, to avoid detection by security agents.

“The defendant was subsequently arrested in Egypt and returned back to Nigeria, where a team of investigators were on ground to receive him.

“A duly endorsed search warrant was duly executed in his property and office in Kaduna, during which cash, in both local and foreign currencies; vehicles and other valuables were recovered.

“In compliance with his directive to his in law, Mubarak Tinja, and the other dependants in the house, some cars and cash were moved out of the house to various locations,” he said.

He said investigators later traced and located some of the items, including about 300,000 US dollars, about seven cars, including Toyota Camry (Muscle); Peugeot 5008, Lexus, Mercedes E350 and a Hyundai car.

Vehicle documents relating to the cars were later tendered by the prosecution through the witness, which the court admitted in evidence.

The witness added that when the defendant was brought back to the country, he “handed his Samsung tablet and two of his phones to our exhibit keeper, who sent them to our forensic department for forensic analysis.

“The outcome of the forensic analysis, included the voice notes of the conversation between the defendant and the terrorists, were part of the content that were presented to the interrogation team and the items recovered from his home.

“He (the defendant) was subsequently interviewed, during which the content of his phones and other items were presented to him.

“During the interview, the defendant admitted giving instruction to Mubarak to move his variables from his house.

“He also admitted communicating with the terrorists, using his voice notes, which were extracted from his two phones and Samsung tablet.”

He added that the defendant also admitted owning a pump action gun, which was recovered from his house, which he claimed was duly licensed.

The witness, however, told the court that investigators later discovered that the licence expired in December 2021, nine months before he was arrested.

The SSS operative said about 98 per cent of the conversation on the voice notes are in Hausa Language, some of which were translated to English Language by him, because they were too many.

Mr Kaswe then applied to tender the recorded voice notes stored in compact disc plates and flash drive, which the court admitted, after Mr Mamu’s counsel, Johnson Usman, reserved his objection until the final address.

The recorded conversations were played in the courtroom.

The witness added that in the course of investigation, two victims volunteered written statements in which they recounted their experiences.

He said one of the statements was written in English and the other in Hausa Language.

He, however, said that the victims; a male and female, were no longer available, because they expressed their unwillingness to attend court to testify because of fear and trauma.

The court admitted the statements of the victims in evidence and marked them as exhibits after it was not opposed by Usman.

The court also admitted in evidence eight statements made to investigators by Mr Mamu and video recordings of the statements writing sessions.

Mr Kaswe then informed the court that he would be bringing a formal application for the court to visit where the items recovered from Mr Mamu’s house and office are kept.

Mr Umar adjourned the matter until 26 November for continuation of trial.
Charges

The federal government charged the defendant with collecting aggregate $420, 000 and N21 million from different families of the train attack hostages.

It further alleged that Mr Mamu concealed funds he earned from services he rendered to the terrorist organisation in his residence in Kaduna State.

It told the court that the defendant, in Kaduna State, received ransom payments in the sum of N500,000 on behalf of the Boko Haram terrorist group from families of the train attack that were held as hostages.

Moreso, in the case that was signed by the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation (DPPF), Mr M.B. Abubakar, the prosecution added that the defendant exchanged voice note communications with one Baba Adamu, identified as spokesperson of the Boko Haram, in relation to acts of terrorism.

It maintained that the defendant acted in breach of the Terrorism Prevention, Prohibition Act, 2022.

Mr Mamu, however, denied all the allegations.

Mr Mamu, who is accused of receiving ransom from families of the victims of the train attack on behalf of the terrorists, was arrested by Interpol in Cairo, Egypt, on behalf of the Nigerian government on 7 September 2022.

He was said to be on his way to Saudi Arabia for Lesser Hajj when he was intercepted in Cairo. He was detained at Cairo International Airport before being repatriated to Nigeria.

While he was being held in Cairo, the SSS raided his Kaduna residence and office. The SSS claimed that it recovered military uniforms and an amount of money during the raid.

The defendant, who also doubled as the spokesperson of the Kaduna-based cleric, Ahmad Gumi, was arrested by the SSS on 7 September afternoon at the Aminu Kano International Airport in North-west Nigeria upon his arrival from Egypt.

(NAN)