Gombe State police command has arrested 18 suspected cattle rustlers and recovered a total of 483 cows and sheep.
The commissioner of police in charge of the command Ishola Babaita who disclosed this yesterday while addressing press conference explained that they nabbed the suspects at Billiri local government area of the state following a tip off.
He said the livestock were allegedly carted away from Plateau, Bauchi and Taraba states adding that the owners have started trooping to the state to reclaim their animals.
According to him, the police tactical teams in collaboration with vigilante group and local hunters mobilised and trailed the rustlers where they were intercepted around Kalmai junction in Billiri.
“As soon as the suspects sighted the police, some of them fled in disarray on their motor bikes and abandoned the rustled cows.
“However, the tenacity of the tactical teams paid off and 18 suspects were arrested. During a painstaking search of their luggage the following exhibits were recovered: two AK-47 rifles, one AK-49 rifle, 320 rounds of live ammunition, 14 empty magazine and three cutlasses,” he said.
Babaita added that the fleeing rustlers also abandoned 186 sheep and ram, three donkeys, two Bajaj Boxer motorcycles, two Honda motorcycles, seven Tecno Handsets, one Max phone, one Foxkong phone and the sum of N994, 000.00 in addition to the 483 cows.
The police boss said the rustled animals are under the custody of DPO Billiri pending the completion of investigation before releasing them to their owners.
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