Ben Agande – Kaduna

The Kaduna State Police Command on Wednesday paraded 79 criminals, including suspected kidnappers, armed robbers and other criminal suspects at Rijana, along Kaduna-Abuja highway.

Some of the paraded suspects by the Kaduna Police Command

Among the suspects was a dismissed soldier who was thrown out of the army some time ago for shooting his commander.

The state Commissioner of Police, Ali Aji Janga, who paraded the suspects before Wednesday morning revealed that during the operations that led to the arrest of the criminals, 35 guns and 439 cattle were recovered from the suspects.

The police commissioner said: “the gallant determination of our crack operatives such as SARS, AKU, IRT, and other units have again recorded some successes with the apprehension of 79 suspects for various crimes which includes.

“Criminal conspiracy, armed robbery, kidnapping, cattle rustling, culpable homicide, shop breaking and theft, impersonation and receiving stolen property.

“Pursuant to our collective resolve, high sense of commitment and relentless determination, the Command has sustained a serious manhunt on bandits and other perpetrators of crime within Kaduna with a view to arresting and bringing them to book.

“I am also glad to inform the general public that we are currently reviewing our structural deployment along Kaduna-Abuja Road, Kaduna-Zaria Road and Kaduna-Birnin Gwari Road with a view to make the highways more safer for commuters while the efforts to rid the Command off banditry and other violent crimes continue,” he said.

Giving a breakdown of the items recovered from the suspected criminals, the Police said nine Ak47 Rifles, one unserviceable LAR Rifle and 11 Locally Made Rifles and Pistols.

Others were one pump action, three dane guns, 954 rounds of live ammunition of different calibre and 24 live cartridges, one knife, one hacksaw, the sum N30,000, two handsets, one face mask, two pair of canvass, four and half (41/2) bundle of brocade (Shadda) materials and 11 caps.

“We also recovered one KIA Serato Motor Vehicle with Reg. No TT 547 AA Black in colour, one Toyota Corolla S Ash in colour with Reg. No. GWA 872 FM, one unregistered Mercedes Benz C350 Ash in colour.

“439 cattles, 18 sheep, eight donkeys, one tricycle with Reg. No MKA 248 WY, six motorcycles, eight plasma television, one HP laptop, one tiger generator and four cutlasses were also recovered.

“I am calling on the good people of Kaduna State to feel free and go about their normal businesses as the Command has appreciably reduced the rate of crime within the state.

“I remain grateful to the media for being our window and supportive in the fight against criminality in State,” he said.

Vanguard