In a bid to tackle crimes and criminality, the Nigeria Police Force has arrested over 9,005 kidnappers, rapists, bandits, cultists and other criminal elements in the last 16 months, LEADERSHIP investigations have shown.
This is even as the Nigeria Police Force has also rescued over 2,143 kidnapped victims in the same period while recovering a truckload of arms and ammunition.
The investigations, which covered between May 2023 and September, 2024, showed that bulk of the arrests happened in the last four months of June, July, August and September, 2024, the Force public relations officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi said in separate parades of suspects.
Between May 2023 to May 2024, the Nigeria Police Force arrested 3,078 kidnap suspects and rescued 1,750 kidnap victims.
Our investigations showed that out of the suspects 4,826 were arrested for armed robbery; 3,078 for kidnapping; 2,479 for rape/sexual crimes; 1,243 for unlawful possession of firearms; 3,523 for cultism, and 3,381 for murder/homicide.
Additionally, 13,402 suspects were arrested for other offences, and the police recovered 2,566 firearms, 19,510 rounds of ammunition, and 1,475 vehicles/motorcycles nationwide.
When asked the level of prosecution, the Force PRO said “The police prosecuted a total of 29,152 criminal cases across the country between May 2023 to May 2024. Remarkably, 17,679 of these cases have been conclusively dispensed, while 11,576 cases are still undergoing trial.
“Additionally, 51 cases are currently under appeal at the respective appellate courts. Out of the dispensed cases, an impressive 16,200 have led to the conviction of suspects who have been handed various forms of punishments for their criminal acts.”
However, in the last four months, the number of arrests has increased, as a total of 5,927 suspects were arrested, according to police information.
Between June and July, 2024, the Nigeria Police arrested 1,284 suspects.
The breakdown showed that the police arrested 307 armed robbery suspects, 296 kidnapping suspects, 301 homicide suspects, 176 rape/defilement suspects, and 204 suspected cultists.
They also recovered 284 firearms, 6702 ammunition of various calibres, 107 vehicles and rescued 97 victims between June and July 2024.
In August, the police arrested 2,726 criminal suspects and recovered 150 firearms and 1788 ammunition, while 207 kidnapped victims were rescued.
In September so far, the Police have arrested 1,917 suspects already.
The breakdown showed that 199 suspects were arrested for sexual-related offences, 143 suspects for cultism, and 1,575 suspects for various other crimes.
The Force PRO further said, “The Nigeria Police Force has made remarkable achievements in the fight against crime and criminality, including violent crimes, recording the arrest of 295 armed robbery suspects, 186 kidnappers, 271 murder/homicide suspects, and 71 suspects for unlawful possession of firearms.”
He also said, “The total number of firearms recovered stands at 185, with a total of 4,087 rounds of ammunition of various calibres recovered, 111 vehicles recovered, and 129 rescued kidnapped victims.”
