Hezbollah behind Kano weapons cache....

Weapons discovered in Kano

 Security authorities yesterday said the large cache of weapons recovered in a specially-built bunker in Kano belonged to Lebanese group Hezbollah and was to be deployed for attacks on Israeli and Western interests in Nigeria.

The weapons, recovered in a raid that started Monday night at the Bompai area, included anti-tank weapons, guns, bombs, grenades and ammunitions. They were found concealed inside an armory underneath a living room in the house, said to be occupied by a Lebanese.

Conducting journalists round the building yesterday, Commander of the 3 Brigade Kano Brig-Gen. Ilyasu Abba and the Kano State Director of State Security Service (SSS) Mr. Bassey Etteng said the weapons were brought in by a Hezbollah cell for use to target Western and Israeli interests.

Hezbollah is a Shia military and political movement based in Lebanon considered by the United States to be a terrorist organisation.

The security chiefs said investigation had confirmed the existence of the group's cell in Nigeria. Brig-Gen. Abba said the discovery was made after several months of investigation by the SSS in Abuja, which led to a number of arrests that started with an Abuja-based businessman on May 16.

The army also disclosed that the arrested suspects had confessed to have undergone Hezbollah training.

"The owner of this property is... a Lebanese national. Unfortunately, he is not even in Nigeria. There is somebody who is very prominent, he has property in Abuja... . He has been arrested by the SSS early this month," he said.

"There is also somebody... also a Lebanese national, who was arrested at the (Malam Aminu Kano Airport) MAKIA on his way to (the Lebanese capital) Beirut.

He was having the sum of $60,000 on him, which he did not declare. It was after he was arrested that the money was found on him during investigation," Ilyasu added.

He listed the weapons recovered to include 103 packs Slap TNT dynamites, (with each pack containing 16 pieces) used in preparing explosives, 76 military hand grenades, one 60mm anti-tank weapon, two rounds of 122mm artillery gun ammunition, four anti-tank mines, 21 RPG bombs, 16 RPG charges, one RGP tube, nine pistols, one sub-machine gun, two SMG magazines, 17 AK-47 rifles, 44 AK-47 magazines and 11, 433 rounds of 7.62mm Special and NATO ammunitions.

"What you are seeing here is what I can say (are) weapons of mass destruction," Brig-Gen. Ilyasu said. "In terms of our situation now in Nigeria, if these things have gone out only God knows the type of destruction they would have brought."

He said even if the arsenal were to be targeted against Israeli or western interests in the country, the destruction will not just affect the said nations but Nigeria as well.

"These are some of the dangers that have been uncovered and they are something we should thank God for," he said.

The security chiefs said the owner of the house had hidden his activities to even his neighbors by erecting the only mosque on the street outside his home to hoodwink people in to believing that he was a pious individual.