Metro

Police arrest 38 suspected criminals in Niger

Niger Police operatives have arrested no fewer than 38 sundry suspected criminals out of which seven of them have been charged to Court for prosecution while 28 of the suspects are still under investigation.

Briefing the newsmen about the successes recorded by the Command in recent times on behalf of the State Commission of Police (CP) Ayodele Joshua Ogundele, at the premises of the State’s Police Command Headquarters in Minna the state capital on Monday was the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) attached to the Command, DSP Wasiu Abiodun.

Abiodun added that among the exhibits recovered from the suspects include One AK-49 rifle, two AK-47 rifles with fourteen live ammunition, one locally fabricated AK-47 rifle, one pump action rifle, one locally made revolver gun and six locally-made guns.

Others according to him was three locally made pistols, a walkie-talkie, two AK-47 magazines, one Toyota Corolla vehicle, sixteen bags of suspected Indian hemp, 264 wraps of suspected Indian hemp, and about 150 bottles of intoxicants.

He stated further that on October 1, 2023, at about 1530hrs, information was received that one Fatima Mohammed of Jamata area of Lokoja, Kogi was sighted along with one other unknown person at a motor park in Ibeto, adding that both were found in possession of one AK-47 rifle with fourteen rounds of live ammunition and two magazines.

The image maker of the State Police Command however lamented that before the arrival of the Police Operatives to the scene a Mob Action had taken place and had beaten to death the two suspects, stressing that consequently, Police operatives attached to Ibeto Police outstation mobilized with local vigilantes to the scene, but unfortunately, before the arrival of the Police team, some aggrieved mob had lynched the unknown person and the said Fatima Mohammed to death.

He however noted that an AK-47 rifle with the live ammunition was recovered was recovered at the scene while the two corpses were taken to Ibeto General Hospital, just as he assured that Investigation on the matter was in progress by the Police

“On 01/10/2023 at about 1600hrs, Police operatives attached to ‘B’ Division Kontagora were on routine stop and search along Kontagora-Lagos road” highlighting that the team recovered a sack bag which was abandoned by a passenger who took to his heels on sighting the patrol team.

“When the bag was searched, two Dane guns and one locally fabricated AK-47 rifle were recovered, assuring that effort was being intensified by the Police to arrest the fleeing suspect,” he added.

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