"Eighteen soldiers, 15 police officers and eight civilians have been arrested. <...> Several soldiers, driven by greed, were trading ammunition, deliberately diverting weapons from military stocks to pass them on to terrorists," Ovolana said at a press conference, according to the African Initiative news agency.

Since August 2024, Nigeria has been conducting a major military operation called “Snowball” aimed at stopping the theft of weapons and ammunition, which is a key issue in the fight against armed groups threatening the country's security.

According to the Conflict Armament Research (CAR) center, nearly 20% of the weapons used by jihadists in the Sahel region come from raids on military warehouses.

The Nigerian army has promised to impose harsh sanctions and said that the operation to combat arms trafficking is being carried out in eleven states, including Plateau, Ebony, Enugu, Borno, Kaduna, Taraba, Benue, Rivers, Bauchi, Lagos, and the Federal Capital Territory.

In May, at least 20,000 people fled from the Nigerian town of Marte to the city of Dikwa after increased attacks by militants in the northeast of Borno state.

Nigeria has been suffering from terrorist attacks for many years, especially in the northeast of the country. The most active group in the region is the Boko Haram insurgency, which emerged in Nigeria in 2009. The ensuing conflict, which drew in other jihadist groups, has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced about two million.