Ngozi James
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has arrested 30 suspects for complicity in the crimes of kidnapping, armed robbery, arms smuggling, unlawful possession of prohibited firearms, car theft, rape, receiving stolen goods, ad other violent crimes.
The Force, in a statement on Thursday by its spokesperson CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, disclosed that the Force Intelligence Bureau Special Tactical Squad (FIB-STS) recently arrested the 30 suspects for their roles in kidnapping, armed robbery, arms smuggling, unlawful possession of prohibited firearms, car theft, rape, receiving stolen goods, amongst others.
He further disclosed that the FIB-STS equally recovered eight (8) foreign and seven (7) locally made AK47 rifles, eight (8) revolver rifles, two thousand two hundred (2,200) rounds of live ammunition of different calibres, twelve (14) AK47 magazines, three (3) stolen cars, 10 fake number plates and a cash sum of one million, eight hundred and eighty thousand (1,880,000) naira from the suspects during follow-up investigations.
Notable amongst the cases is 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, who has been on the run following a police operation that led to the death of a member of his syndicate, one Yellow Magaji aka Arushe, was arrested during a sting operation by police operatives of the FIB-STS.
Yunusa confessed that he led the syndicate which has 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, who was equally arrested by the police.
Also arrested was one Mrs Nvou Michael, a 37-year-old female from Vom LGA, 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.
The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, charged police operatives across the country to sustain the tempo in the fight to curb crimes in the country.