Niger State Police Command has arrested 326 suspects for capital offences in the past 14 months.
The Niger State commissioner of police, Monday Bala Kuryas disclosed this during his retirement pull-out parade at the Police Training School in Minna yesterday.
He said 284 of the arrested suspects have been charged to court and successfully prosecuted and 42 suspects are under investigation and awaiting trial.
Kuryas explained that the arrests and prosecution were made between August 10th 2021 when he resumed office in the state as commissioner of police and October 2022.
The police commissioner said most of the suspects were arrested for culpable homicide, armed robbery, kidnapping, cattle rustling, rape and unlawful possession of firearms.
He stated that one of the major achievements under his watch was the ability to address youth restiveness in Minna metropolis. He declared that the state is currently enjoying relative peace from insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, cattle rustling, youth restiveness and communal clashes.
He said, “We addressed the challenges of youth restiveness in Minna metropolis through raids of criminal hideouts and house-to-house search of the miscreants who were disturbing the peace of the metropolis and almost 200 suspects were arrested.
“When the controversy of their release during prosecution came up, we had to partner with the judiciary and re-arrested many of them while the Ministry of Justice took over their prosecution. As a result of this, many of them have been convicted and they are serving jail terms in various custodial centres.”
Reflecting on his 32 years in service, he posited that the Nigeria Police Force is yet to be in the best shape as desired but noted that with provision of adequate equipment for the force, the force will be in the desired shape.
