A Department of State Services (DSS) operative on Thursday told the federal high court in Abuja how digital forensic tools were used to track and arrest suspects involved in the June 5, 2022, attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo state.
Testifying before Emeka Nwite, the presiding judge, the witness, identified as SSK, said investigators relied on call geospatial network filtering, cell tower triangulation and international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) analysis to trace the movement of the first defendant, Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza.
Led in evidence by Ayodeji Adedipe, counsel to the DSS, the witness said the agency filtered thousands of phone numbers that connected to cell towers in Owaluwa, Elegbeka and Ifon shortly before and after the attack.
“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, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris, and Momoh Otuho Abubakar are facing terrorism-related charges over the attack.
The witness said further analysis showed “bi-directional communication” between Omeiza and two other defendants — Jamiu and Al-Qasim — before and after 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 DATA PLACED DEFENDANT NEAR SCENE
Summarising the team’s findings, the witness said the first defendant’s mobile phone was active within a 35-kilometre radius of the church at about 7:23 am 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.”
He added that the black Tecno phone recovered from the first defendant matched the IMEI reflected in the call data records.
The court admitted the digital forensic report and the mobile phone in evidence without objection from the defence.
Under cross-examination, the witness said it took over a month to locate and arrest the first defendant, who was apprehended in Eika, Kogi state.
He added that the suspects were arrested in August 2022 at different locations across Kogi and Ondo states.
After the 11th prosecution witness concluded his testimony, the DSS counsel announced the closure of the prosecution’s case.
Abdullahi Muhammad, counsel to the defendants, said he would call only the suspects as witnesses and sought access to the fifth defendant’s statement and his clients, who are in DSS custody, to prepare their defence.
The judge adjourned the matter to March 4 and 5 for the defence to open its case.
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