DSS plans to manufacture, sell drones, AK-47, others

Our reporter/ The Department of State Services (DSS) on Saturday said the agency plans to commence the production of its own Unmanned Ariel Vehicles (UAVs) also known as drones, AK-47s, and other weapons that would be used by the service, and possibly sell it to other agencies.

Director-General of the secret police, Yusuf Bichi, who disclosed at the graduation ceremony of the Executive Intelligence Management Course (EIMC) 16 participants in Abuja, said weapons produced by the personnel will soon be unveiled.

Bichi, who explained that the DSS will soon begin to “produce what it eats and eat what it produces”, stressed that UAVs are among the weapons the Secret Service will soon unveil, and when the plans materialise, the service would deploy the weapon across the country.

“We shall support the institute in its training programmes. I care for the welfare of our staff, both active and retired. We shall never go back on that. We’ll also continue to pay attention to our research and development, he said.

“In fact, sooner or later we shall start eating what we produce, and we produce what we eat. This is coded. It means we shall start deploying some of the assets we have or the platforms we produce by ourselves, including Unmanned Area Vehicles. We are producing our own AK-47.

“When we reach the destination, we will save the country from the pains of the resources being chunked out to buy such weapons,” the DG of the secret police told the gathering attended by the Vice President, Kashim Shettima; Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi; Femi Otedola, among other prominent Nigerians.

The DSS boss noted that this was to reduce the heavy reliance on foreign countries for weapons and the huge resources for the procurement of such weapons, adding that it would not relent in providing other security agencies with credible intelligence.

“We shall continue to appreciate all the agencies that partner with us in the journey so far. And I promise the other security agencies that the DSS will continue to provide you with proactive intelligence to drive your operations intelligence. We have achieved that in different parts of the country, he said.

“And I have to thank the military and the police especially for giving us that opportunity and appreciating our own input in the fight against terrorism and insurgency in different parts of the country. We are going to sustain that by the grace of God. For the generality of the people.”