Deadly bandit kingpin, Kachalla reportedly arrested in Sokoto

A deadly and notorious bandit kingpin, Kachalla Duna Tagirke has been reportedly arrested by the Nigerian Military, a Zagazola Makama, a counterinsurgency expert and security analyst in the Lake Chad region in a post on X handle gave the revelation on Thursday.

Kachalla had been operating under Bello Turji Kachalla, a notorious terrorist and bandit leader operating in northern Nigeria, particularly Zamfara, Sokoto, and Niger states.

Bello Turji Kachalla in 2022 said then-President Muhammadu Buhari’s government was uninterested in ending banditry because some of its officials benefitted from it.

He made the allegation in response to an aerial bombardment of his residence by military jets.

He also accused the government of inciting them (terrorists) to break their peace treaty with the residents.
He had earlier led his gang to carry out a massacre in Zamfara earlier that year, killing nearly 200 people, including women and children.

Then-Zamfara State Deputy Governor, Senator Muhammad Hassan Nasiha, however, announced in August 2022 that Turji had accepted peace.
On September 18, 2022, however, he narrowly escaped death when the Nigerian Air Force bombed his house in Fakai village, Shinkafi local government area, Zamfara state, killing 12 of his fighters and relatives.

On November 14, 2022, the Defence Headquarters declared he and 18 other terrorists wanted and put a N5 million bounty on their heads.

In response to the attack on his home, the bandits’ warlord accused the government of violating the peace treaty they had with him to end banditry and protect the people of the Shinkafi axis from any attack.

Turji, speaking on the phone with an online Hausa television channel, expressed resentment over the air raid on his home and the killing of innocent people after agreeing with government officials and community leaders to give up banditry.

He said, “I wonder if truly the government wanted to kill me. I think they only wanted to provoke me by making me renege on my promise not to kill anyone. If they could spot my house why couldn’t they sight and kill me because I only left the house a couple of minutes when the bombardment occurred.

“The people should know their enemy from the onset. The government is provoking us so that we will take revenge on the poor masses.
“The government is only fooling the gullible and naïve people that they want to end banditry whereas in actual sense, they are the ones fueling the activities of the bandits and also benefiting from them.

“Peace is priceless and I’m ready to be a peace advocate unless the government wants me to be a warmonger. I’m ready for either peace or war. Whatever, the government wants, we can give them a multitude.”

Meanwhile, SaharaReporters had also reported that residents of Moriki town in the the Zurmi local government area of Zamfara State reportedly paid N10.5 million out of N20 million demanded by Turji, as a form of a “peace deal fee” to spare their town from attacks.

This came a few days after SaharaReporters reported that residents of Gidan Goga town in the Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State had paid the demanded N20 million to Turji for the same purpose.