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Molly Kilete, Abuja
The police force headquarters on Monday paraded 60 suspected armed robbers and kidnappers terrorising motorists and other road users in Niger, Kaduna, Sokoto and Zamfara states.
A total of 31, arms and ammunition were recovered from the suspects. They include ten AK47 riffles, nine AK49, one AK103 rifle, one pump action weapon, Berretta pistols, and locally-fabricated firearms, 355 live cartridges, and 479 live ammunition.
Parading the suspects before newsmen at the Police Divisional Headquarters, Katari, Kaduna State, Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), DCP Frank Mba, said the arrest is was made possible through the on-going Operation Puff Adder launched to rid kidnappers and other criminals along the Abuja-Kaduna expressway.
He said the police decided to parade the suspects at Katari because before now, Katari used to be the unofficial headquarters for kidnappers until the launching of Operations Puff Adder.
According to Mba, “between now and the last briefing, 60 male suspects were implicated in several cases of conspiracy, homicide, armed robbery and kidnapping.”
About “31 weapons were recovered from the suspects, 10 AK47, nine AK49 as well as one AK103 riffle. A pomp action weapon, Berretta pistols and locally-fabricated firearms, 355 live cartridges, 479 live ammunition of AK 47 and AK 49 were also recovered from the suspects.”
He also said that one Haruna Saidu was arrested in Kaduna while trying to smuggle arms in a concealed compartment under his motorcycle seat to Niger State, noting that two AK 47 riffles and five magazine containing 30 rounds of live ammunition were recovered from the suspect.
Speaking further, he said while investigation had been concluded in some of the cases others were on-going and the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigations were completed.
He said the operational vehicles recently commissioned by President Muhammad Buhari had been fully deployed, especially the CCTV on the move which had played a key role in police tactical teams apprehension of suspects in different parts of the country.
In an interview with journalists, one of the suspects, Saidu, said he was given the arms and ammunition by one Shuibu to take to Niger State but was arrested by the police before he could make the delivery.
Another suspect, Jamilu Iliya, confessed to having been arrested in Sokoto with four AK47 rifles and 223 rounds of ammunition, reportedly given to him by one Watti, identified as an armed robbery kingpin, in Zamfara who paid him N90,000 to deliver the arms.
Also, another suspect, Ibrahim Idris, admitted to being involved in kidnapping in the Maraba-Jos area of Kaduna State, confessed that he participated in two kidnappings with his gang using two AK47 and collected N150,000 and N1 million as ransom.
According to him, the gang had kidnapped a woman and two of her children and shot the husband and collected ransom before releasing them.
