The Department of State Service (DSS), has foiled a planned abduction operation in Bakori Local Government Area of Katsina State, killing 18 armed bandits and rescuing 45 victims.
The operation was among several intelligence-led interventions carried out by the secret police between September and October 2026.
The secret police disclosed this in its operational report presented at the joint security press briefing organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser in Abuja on Thursday.
According to the report, the operation in Bakori was conducted jointly with other security agencies following intelligence about the planned attack.
The service said it also intercepted arms couriers operating across Plateau, Nasarawa, Kaduna and Benue states.
The intercepted couriers were allegedly transporting hundreds of rounds of ammunition and specialised weapons to criminal networks and armed groups in Niger and Imo states.
In the South-East, the DSS said it dismantled supply networks linked to the Eastern Security Network through the arrest of suspected gunrunners and recovery of detonators and explosive chargers allegedly intended for militant commanders.
The agency also reported the killing of a senior Islamic State West Africa Province commander, Abdussamad Ohida, during a security operation in Ondo State.
It said the operation was aimed at preventing planned terrorist attacks in the southern part of the country.
Beyond its field operations, the DSS reported securing several convictions involving terrorism, kidnapping and oil theft.
Among them were life imprisonment for terrorism offences, death sentences for convicted kidnappers and killers in Sokoto and Adamawa states, and a 20-year prison sentence for a convicted kidnapper in Nasarawa State.
The agency said it would continue to target criminal logistics networks and strengthen intelligence-led operations across the country.
