A Federal High Court in Abuja has handed down 25-year prison sentences to five men who supplied the weapons used in last year's mass abduction at St. Mary's Catholic School in Papiri village, Niger State.

Justice Binta Nyako convicted the five on Thursday after they pleaded guilty to four terrorism-related charges. Among the convicts are two citizens of the Republic of Niger.

The men — Yusuf Mohammed (a.k.a. Bature), Goni Ibrahim Bindi (a.k.a. Goni Mutuwa), Sani Tukur (a.k.a. Danladi), Mubarak Ibrahim, and Musa Alhaji Adamu (a.k.a. Gado Banufe) — admitted they acted as arms couriers for the attackers.

On November 21, 2025, gunmen on motorcycles stormed St. Mary's Catholic School, a boarding school in Papiri village. They abducted students and teachers at gunpoint. About 50 students escaped during the attack, but the gunmen marched over 250 others for days into the Kainji Lake Reserve Forest.

All the abducted persons were eventually rescued and reunited with their families on December 24, 2025.

The Department of State Services (DSS) investigation that followed led to the arrest of the five men. The prosecution told the court that the convicts had conveyed 15 AK-103 rifles and about 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition from the Diffa region in the Republic of Niger to one Malam Ahmad, a Boko Haram member based in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State.

Security operatives discovered the arms tucked in sacks hidden inside a blue Volkswagen Golf 3 car with a Niger Republic registration number (BT 9990 DA). The court ordered that the car be forfeited to the federal government.

One of the charges read: "That you, Yusuf Muhammad (a.k.a. Bature)... between the 23rd and 24th of April, 2026, did commit an offence, to wit: rendered support for the commission of an act of terrorism to a terrorist by agreeing to and conveying fifteen (15) AK-103 rifles as well as about one thousand, four hundred and thirty-four (1,434) rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition from the Diffa region, Republic of Niger, on behalf of one Malam Ahmad, a member of the Boko Haram terrorist group based in Borgu LGA of Niger State."

Another charge revealed that three of the convicts — Goni Ibrahim Bindi, Sani Tukur, and Musa Alhaji Adamu — were caught with the weapons at Kwangila area along the Kano-Kaduna Expressway in Zaria.

The court also convicted Yusuf Mohammed for failing to disclose information about Malam Ahmad, a known terrorist operating in Gandu forest, Borgu LGA. Between February 2025 and April 2026, Mohammed had information that could've helped security forces apprehend Ahmad but didn't share it.

The five men were sentenced under the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and the Firearms Act.

  • Date of attack: November 21, 2025
  • Location: St. Mary's Catholic School, Papiri village, Niger State
  • Number abducted: Over 250 students and teachers
  • Number rescued: All, on December 24, 2025
  • Weapons supplied: 15 AK-103 rifles and 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition
  • Origin of weapons: Diffa region, Republic of Niger
  • Arrest date of convicts: Between April 23-24, 2026
  • Conviction date: June 11, 2026
  • Sentence: 25 years imprisonment each
  • Vehicle forfeited: Blue Volkswagen Golf 3 (Niger registration BT 9990 DA)