{"id":4812,"date":"2026-02-22T11:31:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T11:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/?p=4812"},"modified":"2026-02-22T11:31:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T11:31:51","slug":"nigerian-troops-arrest-wife-of-wanted-terror-kingpin-in-benue-others-with-n37m-cash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/02\/22\/nigerian-troops-arrest-wife-of-wanted-terror-kingpin-in-benue-others-with-n37m-cash\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigerian troops arrest wife of wanted terror kingpin in Benue, others with N37m cash"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Defence Headquarters has confirmed that troops arrested the wife of a wanted terrorist kingpin during coordinated nationwide operations.<br \/><br \/>Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. Michael Onoja, disclosed this while briefing Defence Correspondents on the Armed Forces of Nigeria\u2019s activities conducted between February 13 and 19, 2026.<br \/><br \/>He revealed that Aisha Auta, spouse of a notorious terrorist leader, was among 20 suspects apprehended in various theatres of operation.<br \/><br \/>According to him, Aisha was taken into custody on February 19, 2026, by troops of Operation Whirl Stroke in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue State.<br \/><br \/>He noted that her husband\u2019s eventual arrest could provide critical intelligence on terrorist financing and operational networks.<br \/><br \/>Providing further details, Gen. Onoja said:<br \/><br \/>\u201cIn a notable encounter on 19 February 2026, following information about terrorist activities at Kumeh village in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue State, troops of Sector 1 Operation WHIRL STROKE deployed at Abaji\/Katsina Ala mobilised to the area and engaged the terrorists.<br \/><br \/>\u201cDuring the fierce exchange, troops neutralised terrorists while others escaped with gunshot injuries and Troops subsequently exploited the general area and recovered caches of arms and ammunition of various calibres.<br \/><br \/>\u201cOverall, these operations yielded significant outcomes, including the arrest of 11 terrorists, among them Aisha Auta, the wife of a notorious wanted terrorists ring leader whose capture is expected to yield valuable intelligence on network structures and financing,\u201d<br \/><br \/>He added that troops rescued 39 abducted victims within the same period.<br \/><br \/>Gen. Onoja further disclosed that on February 16, 2026, soldiers on routine patrol along the Maiduguri\u2013Magumeri road intercepted five suspects carrying N37 million.<br \/><br \/>The individuals reportedly claimed the funds were intended for distribution to vulnerable communities on behalf of an international NGO, Action Against Hunger.<br \/><br \/>He said both the suspects and the money remain in custody pending investigations to verify the legitimacy of the transaction and eliminate possible links to terror financing or diversion of aid.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Defence Headquarters has confirmed that troops arrested the wife of a wanted terrorist kingpin during coordinated nationwide operations. Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. Michael Onoja, disclosed this while briefing Defence Correspondents on the Armed Forces of Nigeria\u2019s activities conducted between February 13 and 19, 2026. He revealed that Aisha Auta, spouse of a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Nigerian troops arrest wife of wanted terror kingpin in Benue, others with N37m cash - Security Focus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nigerian troops arrest wife of wanted terror kingpin in Benue, others with N37m cash\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/02\/22\/nigerian-troops-arrest-wife-of-wanted-terror-kingpin-in-benue-others-with-n37m-cash\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nigerian troops arrest wife of wanted terror kingpin in Benue, others with N37m cash\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nigerian troops arrest wife of wanted terror kingpin in Benue, others with N37m cash\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/02\/22\/nigerian-troops-arrest-wife-of-wanted-terror-kingpin-in-benue-others-with-n37m-cash\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Security Focus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-22T11:31:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/TROOPS.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1156\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"651\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Security Focus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Security Focus\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/02\/22\/nigerian-troops-arrest-wife-of-wanted-terror-kingpin-in-benue-others-with-n37m-cash\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/02\/22\/nigerian-troops-arrest-wife-of-wanted-terror-kingpin-in-benue-others-with-n37m-cash\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Security Focus\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/#\/schema\/person\/e73d482c4e4a38b5ee8d6e08344c5145\"},\"headline\":\"Nigerian troops arrest wife of wanted terror kingpin in Benue, others with N37m cash\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-22T11:31:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/02\/22\/nigerian-troops-arrest-wife-of-wanted-terror-kingpin-in-benue-others-with-n37m-cash\/\"},\"wordCount\":323,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/02\/22\/nigerian-troops-arrest-wife-of-wanted-terror-kingpin-in-benue-others-with-n37m-cash\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/TROOPS.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/02\/22\/nigerian-troops-arrest-wife-of-wanted-terror-kingpin-in-benue-others-with-n37m-cash\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/02\/22\/nigerian-troops-arrest-wife-of-wanted-terror-kingpin-in-benue-others-with-n37m-cash\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/02\/22\/nigerian-troops-arrest-wife-of-wanted-terror-kingpin-in-benue-others-with-n37m-cash\/\",\"name\":\"Nigerian troops arrest wife of wanted terror kingpin in Benue, others with N37m cash - 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