A security expert, Bulama Bukarti, has claimed that the Lakurawa terror group currently causing havoc in Sokoto and Kebbi states is not new.

Bukarti said the group has been in the country since about six years ago, alleging that they usually enter the country from Niger Republic.

We recall that the Defence Headquarters recently raised an alarm about the emergence of a new terrorist group called Lakurawa in the northwestern part of Nigeria.

According to reports, the group has launched deadly attacks in some parts of the region, killing unsuspecting citizens.

Speaking on the development, Bukarti, who was featured on a Channels TV programme on Monday, said the group has been “sporadically living or camping in the northwestern part of Nigeria for over six years now.

“They first started illegally entering Nigeria around 2016, 2017 but they did not stay permanently.

“What they do—and that’s what they do still today—is that they move in, stay for a few months, and then they go back to the Sahel or wherever they are coming from in Niger [Republic].”

He claimed security agencies, especially the Department of State Services, DSS, were aware of the existence of the group.