A High Court in Sokoto State has sentenced three men, including a Nigerien national, to death by hanging after finding them guilty of terrorism and arms proliferation offences.

The judgment was delivered by Justice Muhammad Nuraddeen Bello of High Court No. 23 in Sokoto in a case marked SS/45c/2026.

The convicts, Yusuf Muhammad, also known as Sallau, a citizen of Niger Republic, alongside Jabbi Alhaji Yalle and Kabiru Muhammad, were arrested on June 13, 2025, by the Department of State Services (DSS) Counter Terrorism Unit.

According to Channels Television, the three men were apprehended over alleged involvement in cross-border criminal activities linked to arms trafficking and terrorism.

In his ruling, Justice Bello found all three defendants guilty and imposed the death penalty by hanging. The court also ordered that all monetary exhibits recovered from the convicts be forfeited to the Federal Government.

The judge described the conviction as part of a series of successful prosecutions secured by the DSS in its ongoing operations against terrorism and organised cross-border criminal networks.

The ruling comes weeks after a Federal High Court in Abuja sentenced five terrorism suspects to 25 years imprisonment each over their involvement in the November 2025 attack on St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Niger State.

In that case, presided over by Justice Binta Nyako, the defendants, including two Nigerien nationals, pleaded guilty to four terrorism-related charges.

The charges included supporting acts of terrorism and violating provisions of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and the Firearms Act.

Court documents showed the suspects were accused of conspiring to transport 15 AK-103 rifles and about 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition from the Diffa region of Niger Republic to an alleged Boko Haram member based in Borgu, Niger State.

The suspects were arrested at different locations by DSS operatives.