The Department of State Services (DSS) has arrested five suspects allegedly connected to the November 2025 abduction of more than 300 students and teachers from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri village, Niger State.

According to TheCable, citing counter-insurgency publication Zagazola Makama, the suspects include a wanted Boko Haram member and two Nigerien nationals accused of supplying weapons to the gunmen behind the attack.

The school came under attack last November when armed men abducted 315 people, comprising 303 students and 12 teachers. While 50 pupils escaped within 24 hours, the remaining victims were released in batches over the following weeks.

Among those arrested were Yusuf Mohammed, also known as Bature, who is reportedly on the list of wanted members of Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (Boko Haram), and his alleged accomplice, Mubarak Ibrahim. The pair were apprehended on the Zaria-Kaduna highway while allegedly travelling to collect a consignment of weapons.

A subsequent operation led to the arrest of Goni Ibrahim, identified as an international arms courier from the Diffa region of Niger Republic, along with his associate, Tukur Sani.

Security sources cited by Makama said operatives recovered 15 AK-103 rifles, 15 magazines and 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition concealed in a blue vehicle used by the suspects.

The DSS later arrested another alleged member of the arms trafficking network, Alhaji Adamu, also known as Gado Banufe, in Yauri, Kebbi State. He is said to be involved in supplying weapons across the Kebbi axis.

Preliminary investigations reportedly indicate that the five suspects served as arms couriers to the gunmen responsible for the attack on the Catholic boarding school.