(Bloomberg) - Nigeria's State Security Services arrested 45 suspected members of the Boko Haram group after foiling a plot to attack a gated community, a Lagos state spokesman said.

The suspects were alleged to be planning an attack on the Dolphin Estate, in the commercial capital's Ikoyi district, state Commissioner of Information Steve Ayorinde said Saturday (Oct 24) in an e-mailed statement.

Boko Haram Islamist militants, seeking to impose Islamic law on Africa's biggest economy and top oil producer, have stepped up suicide attacks in the northeast of the country since President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a military offensive to defeat the insurgents by the end of the year. While the group has successfully attacked Abuja, the capital, in the past, it has not carried out any attacks in Lagos or any of the southern cities.