Police arrest 986 suspects over violation of lockdown in Kaduna

By Doris Nnaji

 

The Police Command in Kaduna has arrested 986 suspects for violating the lockdown order imposed by the state government to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in the state.

THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE IN THE STATE, CP UMAR MURI, DISCLOSED THIS WHILE BRIEFING JOURNALISTS IN KADUNA ON WEDNESDAY.

He said that 48 of those arrested were mostly religious leaders and beer parlour operators.

According to the commissioner of police, some of the suspects have been prosecuted while the others will be arraigned before the court subsequently.

The CP also said that the command, in collaboration with the force headquarters in Abuja, had on Feb. 5, launched a well-coordinated operation code-named “Taking the battle to the bandits’ camps”.

“In the joint operation, we identified several notorious bandits’ camps around the Birnin Gwari and Giwa axis and destroyed them.

“However, the gallant determination of our personnel yielded successes.

“We apprehended 91 suspects for various crimes which include banditry, armed robbery, kidnapping, culpable homicide, rape, shop breaking, theft, and other mundane crimes.

“The recoveries we made during investigations include, 15 AK47 rifles, ten pistols, ten locally made guns, one pump action rifle, one locally made revolver, and one G3 rifle.

“We also recovered 1,575 live ammunition, 28 live cartridges, 21 rounds of G3 ammunition, 20 motor vehicles of different models and descriptions, nine motorcycles of different models and three tricycles.

`Other items recovered are, 246 rustled cows, 60 sheep, 20 bags of rice, six bags of beans, 71 cutlasses, knives, swords, scissors, 12 mobile cellphones and one anti-tracking device.

“We also recovered 10 television sets, 16 laptops and iPads, 14 Italian handbags, two iron rods and eight bags of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp,” he said.

The CP further said that diligent investigation into the various allegations were ongoing.

According to him, some of the suspects have confessed to their crimes and will be prosecuted accordingly.

“The major yardstick to measure a command’s achievement is through the number of convictions it secures.

“We have been able to secure 38 convictions on various criminal allegations within the period under review,” he added.

He urged the people of Kaduna to continue to support the command with timely and useful information that would aid the battle against criminal elements in the state.

“Report suspicious persons to the nearest police station or through the command’s designated emergency response numbers,” Muri said.