Police Arrest 1,284 Suspects Over Alleged Armed Robbery, Kidnapping, Others In 6 Weeks

A total of 1,284 suspects have been arrested by operatives of the Nigeria Police for their alleged involvement in armed robbery, kidnapping, homicide, rape and defilement, as well as cultism in the last six weeks.

The police also paraded 35 of the suspects apprehended for various offences, with one AK-49 rifle alongside its magazine, sledgehammer, car jack, two chisel, small hammer, and one Hiace bus as exhibits.

Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi disclosed this while parading some of the suspects in Abuja on Friday.

“In the last six weeks, the Nigeria Police Force has arrested 307 armed robbery suspects, 296 kidnapping suspects, 301 homicide suspects, 176 rape/defilement suspects, and 204 suspected cultists, recovered 284 firearms, 6702 ammunition of various calibres, 107 vehicles and rescued 97 victims.

“Today, we will be presenting a total number of 35 suspects apprehended for various offences, one AK-49 rifle with magazine, sledge hammer, car jack, two chisel, small hammer, and one Hiace Bus.

“Similar operations to mop up illegal arms and ammunition in circulation in the country, led to the recovery of 4 AK- 47 rifles, five magazines and 107 rounds of live ammunition of various caliber during their operations,” Adejobi said.

He gave the names of some of the suspects paraded as Suleiman Mohammed, Jerry Irimiya, Abubakar Salisu, Adam Mohammed, Zaidu Inusa, Abdulateef Abdulganiyu, Nankap Nimsak, Zaharadeen Abdulkarim and Nuhu Hassan.

Others are Musa Mohammed, Muntari Kabir, Lawal Yusuf, Ali Abdulrahman, Zakari Saidu, Mustapha Usman and Nasiru Abba.

The police spokesman said the suspects above constituted a notorious syndicate of robbers, specialised in the theft and robbery of motorcycles and tricycles.

“They are particularly involved in moving around at late night and picking up any tricycle they see parked without supervision.

“They also move around, stopping motorcyclists they see on the road, parading themselves as police officers with fake ID cards and accusing the motorists of late-night movements, proceeding to confiscate their bikes and telling them to go to any division nearest to them to retrieve the bikes.

“So far, they have stolen several motorcycles which they have given to the receiving group in their syndicate,” the Force PRO stated.