The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Usman Alkali Baba, has charged police operatives across the country to sustain the tempo in the fight to curb violent crimes in Nigeria.
The IGP gave the charge shortly after the Police Headquarters paraded 30 criminal suspects arrested in different locations across the country by the Force Intelligence Bureau Special Tactical Squad, FIB-STS.
Speaking to journalists during the parade, the acting Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Olumuyiwa Adejobi, also a Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP, revealed that the 30 suspects were arrested for alleged complicity in the crimes of kidnapping, armed robbery, arms smuggling, unlawful possession of prohibited firearms, car theft, rape, receiving stolen goods, amongst others.
The IGP, Adejobi said, lauded the efforts emplaced to roll back the negative trend of crimes in the country as evidenced in the arrest of the 30 suspects.
Apart from the arrests, the FPRO said the FIB-STS equally recovered eight foreign and seven locally made AK47 rifles, eight revolver rifles, 2,200 rounds of live ammunition of different calibres, 12 AK47 magazines, three stolen cars, 10 fake number plates and N1.88 million (one million, eight hundred and eighty thousand naira) cash from the suspects during follow-up investigations.
Adejobi said notable among the cases was the arrest of one Ahmed Yunusa, aka “Yellow Ashana”, a 36-year-old leader of a vicious bandit group that has been terrorising communities and road users along the Abuja-Kaduna expressway.
The suspect had been on the run following a police operation that led to the death of a member of his syndicate, one Yellow Magaji aka Arushe. He was arrested during a sting operation by police operatives of the FIB-STS. Yunusa, according to the FPRO, confessed that he led the syndicate which carried out several kidnapping operations on the Abuja-Kaduna expressway, and launched three different attacks on Kadara Community in Kaduna State, wherein scores of persons were killed. He equally confessed to the kidnap and murder of one Hafsat Isah, who was lured into the bandit camp by her friend, one Ladi Sale, that was equally arrested by the police.
Also arrested was one Mrs Nvou Michael, a 37-year-old female from Vom Local Government Area of Plateau State, who was intercepted by operatives along Samminaka/Jos expressway, Kaduna State, in possession of 15 locally made rifles and 400 rounds of 7.62 x 39mm AK47 ammunition in a Toyota Hummer bus travelling from Jos, Plateau State to Kaduna State.
Investigations revealed the suspect was an arms smuggler for some bandit groups in Kaduna State. Similarly, Police operatives arrested one Nuhu Yakubu, a 33-year-old male from Donga, Taraba State, while he was conveying 1,500 AK47 ammunition from Wukari to bandits in the Donga Forest.
The operatives of the FIB-STS also apprehended the duo of Idris Abdulwahab, 26, and Adams Ibrahim, 37, both from Okene, Kogi State, who have been linked to some major bank robbery operations in Ondo State, as well as Egbe in Yagba West Local Government Area of Kogi State, in 2021, where they killed a security guard.
e in using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to forcefully gain access into banks for their robbery operations, were intercepted by eagle-eyed police operatives at a check point in Isonu, Kogi State, while heading to Okene from their forest hideout, with a cash sum of N1.88 million (one million, eight hundred and eighty thousand Naira).
Meanwhile, Adejobi said the Inspector-General of Police has assured the nation that the Force would continue to close up on criminal elements who pose a threat to national security. The IGP also called on well-meaning members of the public to readily assist the police with information to effectively combat the purveyors of violent crimes in the society.
All the arrested suspects, the police spokesman added, will be arraigned in court upon conclusion of investigations.