Angry men of the Nigerian Army swept through Angwan Hausawa village in Nyanya area of Abuja over the weekend, embarking on mass arrest of those it deemed to have links with organised criminal gangs in the country.

The arrest which began at about 9pm on Friday lasted through the night till 9am yesterday.

The village, otherwise known as Chief’s Palace Area, was under heavy security cordon throughout the raid with residents deliberately imposing curfew on themselves for fear of being arrested.

Angwan Hausawa is the closest area to the scene of Thursday night car-bomb attack which left 19 people dead and about 66 injured.

It was not immediately clear where the suspects were taken to.

When contacted, Defence spokesman, Major Gen. Chris Olukolade, denied knowledge of the operation. Also, Director, Army Public Relations, Brig. Gen. Olajide Olaleye, could not be reached as at the time of filing this report as his telephone line was switched off.

But afterwards, the military confirmed the arrest of eight suspects, mostly foreigners at Kugbo and Nyanya in Abuja, close to the scene of Thursday’s bomb blasts.

The Defence headquarters, DHQ, in a statement signed by the Director of Defence Information, DDI, Major General Olukolade, said that the suspects, who were arrested during a raid by troops on patrol in the area, were currently saying what they knew about the insecurity in the territory.

•Excerpted from Sunday Mirror.