Taskforce arrests 80, recovers weapons in Plateau communities

Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) yesterday said it has arrested over 80 suspects and recovered over 70 assorted and locally fabricated weapons and over 2,000 rounds of ammunitions from communities in Plateau State in the last three months.

The Special Task Force Commander, Major General Anthony Atolagbe, said most of the weapons were recovered during several raids following intelligence reports, adding that about 80 suspects were arrested within the period and handed over to other sister law enforcement agencies for prosecution.

The multi-security task force which is in charge of maintaining law and order in Plateau as well as Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro local government areas of Bauchi State, also took control of the security situation in Kaura, Zangon Kataf, Sanga and Jema’a LGA’s of Kaduna State.

However, General Atolagbe while speaking on the situation in Plateau State said, “to get this number of weapons in three months just tells you that we still have a lot of work to do. We are however working with government to have some sort of control especially as it relates to some of these locally fabricated weapons.

“We are also trying to encourage those who have these weapons to come and submit them, by way of disarming them and perhaps a kind of carrot and stick approach. In the very last arrest we made, four weapons were found just under the bed of one individual. This calls for serious concern,” he said.

Daily Trust reports that the taskforce yesterday commenced a show of force alongside other security agencies which the commander said was aimed at boosting confidence in residents of the state and assured that security agents have been deployed all over the state to ensure a peaceful New Year celebration.