A former senior official of Nigeria's Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has revealed how the country's secret police worked alongside the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to arrest convicted plane hijacker Omar Rezaq during a covert operation at Lagos' Murtala Muhammed International Airport in 1993.
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Amachree, who retired as an Assistant Director of the DSS, disclosed the details in his memoir, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, where he reflected on his decades-long career in Nigeria's intelligence community.
According to the retired intelligence officer, the carefully coordinated mission lasted only 15 minutes from the moment Rezaq arrived in Nigeria until he was placed in FBI custody and flown out of the country.
He explained that the operation was initiated after the then Director-General of the State Security Service, Peter Nwaoduah, instructed him in July 1993 to receive a delegation of security officials from the United States Embassy without initially disclosing the purpose of their visit.
"At first, I was simply told to provide every assistance the visitors required.
"It was only after the team arrived that the full nature of the assignment became clear," Amachree recalled.
He said the visiting officials, who identified themselves as FBI special agents, informed him that Rezaq was travelling from Accra, Ghana, aboard a Ghana Airways flight bound for Lagos.
Amachree noted that the agents stressed the need for absolute secrecy because the suspect had a history of violent conduct and any security lapse could jeopardise the mission.
"They made it clear that there was no room for mistakes.
"The suspect was considered extremely dangerous, so every aspect of the operation had to be executed with precision," he wrote.
To ensure the arrest went according to plan, Amachree assigned a DSS operative to accompany the FBI team to the aircraft boarding bridge and monitor the passenger's arrival.
He also sought the support of the military Airport Commandant at the time, John Ojikutu, who immediately deployed armed personnel to secure the arrival area against any possible resistance.
According to Amachree, additional arrangements were made for a privately chartered FBI Gulfstream IV aircraft to remain on standby so the American agents could depart Nigeria immediately after taking custody of the suspect.
Once the Ghana Airways flight landed, Rezaq was quietly intercepted, handed over to the FBI team and swiftly escorted onto the waiting aircraft.
"The speed of the operation was deliberate. Every minute mattered because any delay could have compromised the mission or created unnecessary security risks at the airport," Amachree stated.
Rezaq, a Lebanese-born militant, gained international notoriety after participating in the 1985 hijacking of EgyptAir Flight 648, one of the most infamous aviation security incidents of the decade.
Following his extradition from Nigeria, he was prosecuted in the United States, where he was convicted in 1996 on multiple offences, including air piracy, before receiving a life sentence.
Amachree disclosed that the United States government later recognised his contribution to the successful operation.
According to him, then-US President Bill Clinton presented him with a plaque in appreciation of his role in the arrest and transfer of the convicted hijacker, which he described as one of the defining moments of his intelligence career.
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