CRIME Police arrest 10 suspected kidnappers, rustlers in Niger
The police in Niger State said they have made a major breakthrough in the fight against crime following the arrest of a 10-man gang of kidnappers, rustlers and armed robbers at different locations in the state.
The police command in the state, on Monday, paraded Mohammed Mojun, Umar Bello, Zape Mohammed, Aliyu Bello, Abdulamin Mupa, Abubakar Sani and Abdulrahaman Ahmadu over the offences.
The command’s spokesman, DSP Bala Elkana, said the suspects were responsible for series of kidnapping on the Minna-Suleja road around Lambata and cattle rustling in Kuta, Minna and communities around Shiroro and Muya local government areas, as well as armed robbery along the MinnaBida road.
DSP Elkana said the suspects were arrested around Kuta, Lapai and Lambata by the command’s anti-kidnapping unit and the Inspector General’s Tactical Team. He said, during the operation, one of the suspects was shot and fatally wounded.
Elkana further said the first suspect, Mohammed Mojun, who claimed to be a member of a vigilante group in Zamfara State, was the gang’s armourer. “He can dismantle and re-assemble a rifle within minutes,” DSP Elkana said.
The command said the suspects alleged that they got arms from a certain chairman of a vigilante group in Zamfara State.
The command further said its intelligence officers were collaborating with their Zamfara State counterparts with a view to bringing in the said chairman for questioning.
DSP Elkana said the command believed that the suspects might have links in the Sabon Daga, Bosso Local Government Area, crisis which claimed some lives, including that of a Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) personnel as the rifle of the slain officer was among the arms recovered from the suspects.