ABUJA – A retired Assistant Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has revealed how Nigerian intelligence operatives worked with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to arrest notorious plane hijacker Omar Rezaq at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, in a covert operation that lasted just 15 minutes.

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Amachree disclosed the details in his memoir, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, stating that the operation was launched in July 1993 after the then Director-General of the State Security Service, Peter Nwaoduah, directed him to assist an FBI team arriving from the U.S. Embassy. According to him, the FBI identified Rezaq—a Lebanese-born militant involved in the 1985 hijacking of EgyptAir Flight 648—as their target and informed Nigerian authorities that he was travelling from Accra, Ghana, aboard a Ghana Airways flight. Amachree said he immediately deployed DSS officers to monitor the aircraft’s arrival and enlisted the support of the military Airport Commandant, John Ojikutu, who mobilised armed personnel to secure the airport.

The former intelligence officer explained that a privately chartered FBI Gulfstream IV aircraft had been positioned at the airport to enable the immediate transfer of the suspect after his arrest. Once the Ghana Airways flight landed, Rezaq was intercepted, taken into custody and handed over to the FBI agents, who departed Nigeria with him aboard the waiting aircraft. “The entire ground operation, executed with surgical efficiency, took exactly 15 minutes,” Amachree wrote, adding that speed and secrecy were essential to prevent any security breach or escape attempt.

Rezaq was later extradited to the United States, where he was convicted in 1996 on charges including air piracy and sentenced to life imprisonment. Amachree disclosed that his role in the successful operation earned him formal recognition from the U.S. government, including a plaque of commendation presented by then U.S. President Bill Clinton for his contribution to the high-profile international counterterrorism operation.