The Police on Wednesday said they had arrested 47 suspects over alleged kidnapping, unlawful possession of weapons and other criminal offences.
The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Mr Frank Mba, announced this at a media briefing in Abuja.
Mba said the 47 suspects were linked to various offences including armed robbery, murder, kidnapping, unlawful possession of weapons, cattle rustling, as well as house breaking.
He also said that a total number of 321 rounds of live AK 47 ammunitions, nine pistols, 10 Ak 49 riffles, seven Ak 47 riffles, 864 rounds of live cartridges were discovered from them.
He added that a cash sum of N258, 570 and other incriminating items were also recovered from the suspects, not forgetting 583 pieces of camouflage.
According to him, among suspects is a kidnapping syndicate that has been on the wanted list of the operatives for quite a while now.
He said the syndicate which belonged to a well organised kidnapping enterprise was arrested fully dressed on army Uniform.
Mba said that the suspect carry out operations largely within Kaduna, Niger, Zamfara and Katsina axis.
He said the suspect report directly to another who was their commander and had also been on the police’s wanted list with over 100 men that directly work under him.
“The suspect confirmed that they collected ransom from their victim’s relatives and release them.
“But for those that their relatives couldn’t afford the ransom, they take permission from their commander to kill the victim, ” he said.
Mba said another suspect, a 58 year old man was arrested with 864 live cartridges transporting from eastern part of the country to Taraba State.
He said the live cartridges discovered were hidden in a bag containing second hand clothes popularly known as okrika.
According to Mba, the suspect hands over the live cartridges to the people over there in a village in Taraba which they in return give him bush meat to return back to Abia with.
He added that the suspect does not have the licence to sell or move live ammunition.
He maintained that every single person that has facilitated purchase or the movement of these arms would be certainly arrested.
The FPRO warned the public to desist from criminal activities, reminding them of no hiding place for criminals henceforth.
“We say this repeatedly that no matter how smart you are as a criminal, you have a very short life span within the criminal enterprise.
“No matter how tough you think you are as a criminal we will always hit at you.
It is bad enough for you to commit crimes out there but it is worst when you begin to take the lives of police officers, of soldiers, of members of our arm forces.
“It’s a crime to take the lives of other members of the law enforcement community who are charged with that secret duty of protecting lives and properties.
“And you do that with addition to other crimes you committed, you do not only provoke us but also God in heaven.
And you will never have a hiding place “As we celebrate our 60th independence, our commitment as the lead agency for internal security remains unshaken. “
We will continue to do everything within our reach to keep this country safe, to keep lives protected and to keep businesses moving forward, ” Mba stated.
