The Nigeria Police Force has continued efforts to combat crime and criminality and curb the proliferation of illegal weapons nationwide with its recent progress report.
CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, Force PRO, released the statement on Thursday, Chronicle NG reports.
The Nigeria Police Force, in its ongoing efforts to combat crime and criminality and curb the proliferation of illegal weapons in the country, has recorded several notable breakthroughs in the past 2 months, resulting in the arrest of 1,412 Suspects for various violent crimes, including 548 suspects for Armed Robbery, 242 suspects for Kidnapping, 365 suspects for murder or homicide, and 237 suspects for rape or defiance. Notably, 350 illicit firearms and 4,055 rounds of ammunition of various calibres were equally recovered from across the country within the period under review, while 113 kidnapping suspects were rescued unharmed and re-united with their families.
Prominent amongst these breakthroughs was the arrest of one Yusuf Ismael Isah, aged 32, a plumber from Okene, Kogi State, by gallant operatives of the Force. According to investigations, he was part of the 7-man gang that launched a fatal attack on the convoy of Apostle Johnson Suleiman, the Founder of Omega Fire Ministries Worldwide, Auchi, on October 21, 2022, along the Benin-Auchi road, wherein six (6) people, including three police officers, were gruesomely murdered. Intelligence revealed that the seven-man syndicate has been actively involved in kidnapping operations within Edo State and its environs and has carried out about four kidnapping operations between 2021 and 2023 before the gang was eventually busted by the Police.
Exhibits recovered from the suspect upon his arrest in Ondo State include 5 AK47 Rifles, 2 K2 Assault Rifles, 180 Rounds of Live Ammunition, 4 suspected locally made IEDs, 1 pistol, and 4 rounds of 9mm ammunition.
Similarly, five suspects were apprehended in Abuja for Conspiracy and Kidnapping. The suspects, Emu Larry Chidiebere, Samuel Balogun, Williams Banjo, Babatunde Femi, and Nneka Opara, were arrested for kidnapping a foreign national and obtaining a ransom of 2000 Dollars from his relatives. The suspects held the victim hostage in an apartment from May 30, 2023, to June 2, 2023. The suspects took pictures of the victim and forwarded the pictures and threat messages to the victim’s girlfriend in Zurich, who eventually sent them the sum of 2000 dollars via Western Union on June 1, 2023.
Additionally, the Police have sustained a continuous assault on the camps of some non-state actors in the southeast, enforcing an illegal sit-at-home order, particularly in Enugu, Imo, and Ebonyi States. In Enugu, four suspects were neutralized following a gun duel with operatives of the Force on July 7, 2023, while one AK47 with 19 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition and two molotov cocktails were recovered. In Ebonyi, 17 suspects were arrested following a raid on the hideout of secessionist agitators on July 5 and 6, 2023, while 1 locally made revolver, 2 vehicle number plates, and 3 live rounds of ammunition were recovered.
Similarly, in Imo, police operatives arrested 26 hoodlums following the murder of a young man in their rampage and successfully recovered five firearms, 66 rounds of live ammunition, and several other exhibits.
The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has reiterated the commitment of the Nigeria Police Force to continually ensure the safety and security of all and sundry, while emphasizing that his administration will leave no stone unturned in the effort to suppress and decimate criminality and the heinous activities of non-state actors who cause pain, hardship, and sorrow to innocent law-abiding members of Nigerian society.
