Kaduna police ‘arrest 207 bandits, recover N93m’

The Kaduna police command says it has arrested 207 suspected bandits, kidnappers, cattle rustlers, and rapists in the state.

At a press briefing on Wednesday, Umar Muri, the state commissioner of police, said the arrests were made in the last few weeks.

He said the police recovered 41 guns, 1,113 rounds of AK 47 live ammunition, 16 rounds of live cartridges, 26 empty shells of AK 47, and 17 knives and cutlasses.

Also recovered from the suspects were N93 million; 180,070 Saudi riyals; N5.7 million equivalent of fake US dollars; 200,000 fake euro bills; 210,000 fake CFA currency; N2.7 million fake naira notes; 2,400 bags of stolen poultry feeds valued at N8.3 million; 823 bags of rice; 10 motor vehicles; 31 motorcycles and 15 plasma televisions valued N8.6 million.

Muri also listed other items found in the possession of the suspects as 833 rustled cattle, 20 sheep, 14 cell phones, nine laptop computers, six fake police ID cards, two fire extinguishers, 48 sacks of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp and some assorted charms.

He said the police would continue to make the state uncomfortable for criminals, and called for more support from the public.

“So far, all the suspects paraded are being diligently prosecuted with a view to gaining conviction, thereby taking these criminal elements out of circulation in our communities,” Muri said.

According to him, the efforts of police personnel and other security agencies have made the security situation in Kaduna relatively stable.

He added that the relative peace in the state was also as a result of continuous review of the operational strategies of the command, in collaboration with other sister security agencies, as well as robust support and encouragement from Mohammed Adamu, the inspector-general of police.