An operative of the Department of State Services (DSS) has explained before the Federal High Court in Abuja how advanced digital forensic techniques were deployed to identify and apprehend suspects linked to the June 5, 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State.
Testifying before Justice Emeka Nwite, the witness, identified as SSK, described how investigators applied call geospatial network filtering, cell tower triangulation and International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) tracking to trace the first defendant, Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza.
Led in evidence by DSS counsel Ayodeji Adedipe, the operative said thousands of phone numbers that connected to cell towers in Owaluwa, Elegbeka and Ifon around the time of the attack were analysed.
“With these applications, we were able to filter thousands of mobile phones that had contact with the cell tower in Owaluwa, Elegbeka and Ifon,” the witness said.
“As a result of this, we narrowed it down to one of the defendants’ phone numbers. The defendant is identified as Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza (the first defendant).
“The system revealed a unique identification number, the international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) associated with the 1st defendant’s phone.
“This number is a unique digital fingerprint associated with every phone, meaning that no two phones have the same IMEI.
“This enabled us to trace, locate and arrest the first defendant. His arrest and confession led to the arrest of other defendants.”
Omeiza, alongside Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris and Momoh Otuho Abubakar, is standing trial on terrorism-related charges stemming from the attack.
The DSS operative further told the court that phone records uncovered “bi-directional communication” between Omeiza and two other defendants — Jamiu and Al-Qasim — in the months surrounding the incident.
“These three individuals exchanged several communications before the incident, and after the incident, that is, between 1st March, 2022, and 30th July, 2022, within the space of six months,” he said.
Phone activity linked defendant to scene – DSS
Providing a summary of the findings, the witness said data placed the first defendant’s phone within a 35-kilometre radius of the church at approximately 7:23 a.m. on the day of the attack.
“Even though the first defendant applied no phone call rule, as a trained terrorist, his mobile phone was active. And, shortly after the attack, analysis revealed movement of the mobile phone towards Ifon,” the investigator said.
“There is what is called a silent witness. The movement of the phone from one cell tower to another gave us an insight into the movement of the first defendant on pre-attack days and the day of the attack.
“Three of the defendants made several calls before and after the attack, which showed that they know one another and that their arrest is not by accident.”
The court admitted both the digital forensic report and a black Tecno phone recovered from the first defendant which matched the IMEI in the call records without objection from defence counsel.
During cross-examination, the DSS operative disclosed that tracking and arresting Omeiza took more than a month. He was eventually apprehended in Eika, Kogi State. Other suspects were arrested in August 2022 at various locations in Kogi and Ondo states.
Following the testimony of the 11th prosecution witness, the DSS closed its case.
Defence counsel Abdullahi Muhammad informed the court that only the defendants would testify and requested access to the fifth defendant’s statement, as well as permission to meet with his clients in DSS custody to prepare their defence.
