DSS raids Taraba warehouse, recovers donated relief materials, arrests four

Operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS, have raided a private warehouse in Sintali Ward, Jalingo Local Government Area of Taraba State, recovering relief materials reportedly donated for disaster victims and arresting four suspects.

The development was disclosed in a post on X on Sunday by Zagazola Makama, a security and counter-insurgency expert in Lake Chad region.

Makama, citing security sources, wrote that the operation followed intelligence provided by residents, who reported suspicious nighttime movement of relief materials from government stores to a private warehouse.

According to the report, DSS operatives recovered food items and other relief materials worth millions of naira believed to have been donated by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre to the Taraba State Emergency Management Agency, TSEMA, for distribution to victims of disasters during the raid.

Four persons, including the owner of the warehouse and three rice traders, were arrested in connection with the discovery.

The recovered items were subsequently evacuated to the DSS office in Jalingo for further investigation.

Makama further added that investigators were working to determine whether the relief materials had been illegally diverted from official custody or were being temporarily stored at the warehouse for legitimate purposes.

As of the time of filing this report, the Taraba State Emergency Management Agency had yet to comment on the development, while the DSS had not issued an official statement on the operation.