A total of 81 suspects have been arrested by the Nigeria Police Force for various crimes, including banditry, armed robbery, kidnapping, murder, homicide and illegal manufacturing and distribution of vehicle number plates.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, who paraded the suspects in Abuja on Wednesday, said the suspects (78 males and 3 females) were arrested in different parts of the country in April and May 2021.
Items recovered from them include; 45 assorted firearms, 17 AK-47 rifles, 20 locally made AK-47 rifles, one General Purpose Machine Gun, 9,899 AK-47 live ammunition, 80 pieces of illegally produced number plates and two Toyota cars and other dangerous weapons.
Mba said the arrests was a big achievement documented by the Intelligence Response Team and Special Tactical Squad.
He said: “We also recovered 80 pieces of illegally produced vehicle number plates and two Toyota cars; Camry and Corolla, robbed at gunpoint but eventually recovered by police operatives.”
The police PRO also revealed that the kidnap groups operating between the borders of Sokoto State, Nigeria and Niger Republic were part of the suspects apprehended.
Mba referred to the criminals as trans-border kidnap groups because they have been involved in so many kidnap cases. The kidnappers were unlucky this time after kidnapping and killing one Abba Abbey, an aide to Aliyu Wamakko, a former governor of Sokoto State.
After thorough questioning, the leader of the group revealed that he owned houses in Nigeria and Niger Republic. Investigations further revealed that the leader is also an ex-convict having served jail sentence in Niger Republic for being part of some homicide-related cases.
Also paraded was one Sylvester Agbole, who conspired with another suspect, Samuel Emmanuel, to murder one Godwin Christopher.
Agbole told journalists that Christopher had loaned him N500,000 for his wedding and this led to the murder of Christopher.
He said that when he found out that Christopher had money, he sent Emmanuel and others to rob him and in the process, Christopher was killed.
Agbole, however, said he did not order the death of Christopher, but confirmed that he had not paid him (Christopher) the N500,000 he borrowed for his wedding before sending the robbers after him.
