Rifles, POS machines recovered as police arrest 48 suspects for kidnapping, cybercrime

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) says it has recovered AK-47 rifles, Point of Sale (POS) machines, Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards, among others, following the arrest of 48 suspects across the country.

In a statement on Thursday, the NPF said among those arrested were nine suspects involved in the kidnap of Mohammed Bape, member of the Taraba state house of assembly, who was abducted in December 2020.

Other items recovered from the suspects are laptop computers, mobile phones, and an internet modem.

According to the statement, Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general of police, commended the officers for their efforts regarding the ‘Operation Puff Adder II’, which was launched recently.

“Following the flag-off of ‘Operation Puff Adder II’ by the Inspector General of Police, IGP M.A Adamu, NPM, mni on 15th February, 2021, to reinvigorate the ongoing fight against violent crimes in the country and bring the perpetrators to book, operatives of the FIB Intelligence Response Team and Special Tactical Squad of the Force attached to the Operation Puff Adder II have arrested forty-eight (48) criminal suspects, including forty-seven (47) male and one (1) female, for their involvement and indictment in cases of armed robbery, kidnapping, unlawful possession of firearms, cybercrime/financial fraud and other heinous crimes in some parts of the country,” the statement reads.

“Forty-one (41) prohibited firearms including fourteen (14) AK47 rifles, ten (10) AK47 Magazines, fifty-eight (58) live cartridges, four (4) AK47 live ammunition, four (4) POS Machines, two (2) laptop computers, eighteen (18) mobile phones, internet modem, and nine (9) ATM cards were recovered from the suspects in the operations.

“Notable among the breakthroughs is the arrest of the nine (9) criminal suspects responsible for the kidnap of Honourable Mohammed Bashir Bape, member, Taraba State House of Assembly, in December 2020.

“The suspects were apprehended at their various hideouts in Taraba and Plateau States, following an intense search by the police team for the perpetrators of the crime and follow-up on recent spike in kidnapping/armed robbery in Taraba and the North-Central states of the country.

“Police investigations have uncovered the roles played by each member of the gang during the kidnap of the honourable member. Investigations also established how the proceeds of the crime (ransom) were shared among the suspects.”

Others suspects include a 12-member “cybercrime syndicate” arrested in Abuja, as well as a two-man gang accused of selling drugs to bandits.