The police authorities in Nasarawa State have arrested 47 suspected kidnappers and armed robbers across the state. Other suspects were arrested for alleged firearms possession as disclosed yesterday by the state Commissioner of Police, Bola Longe, while addressing journalists shortly after parading the suspects at the state police command headquarters in Lafia. Longe, however, said the arrest of the suspects was made possible through the instrumentality of the ‘Operation Puff- Adder’ which according to him, had been up and doing since its intelligence inauguration in the state. He explained that out of the number of the suspects arrested, 38 were for kidnapping, nine for armed robbery, and six others for unlawful possession of firearms, even as he continued that 24 ammunition and three motorcycles were equally recovered from suspects.
The police commissioner further said that among the suspects arrested were Musa Aminu, Musa Adamu and Yakubu Ahmadu who targeted the kidnap of a victim in Akpaku Village in Nassarawa Local Government Area of the state and threatened to kill him if he failed to give a ransom of N1.5 million. He maintained that the suspects had been arrested for criminal intimidation.
The CP further revealed that the police, through the special units of the force, accompanied by actionable intelligence gathered from members of the public, arrested different armed robbery suspects between October 5 and 19 this year.
“Following series of reports in Mararaba Udege area, the police moblised special units of the force, coupled with intelligence gathered from spirited individuals, stormed their different hideouts between October 5 to 19 this year. At the end of the operation, 20 kidnappers and armed robbery suspects were arrested and three motorcycles, 20 assorted GSM handsets and a sum of N57, 700 were recovered,” the CP said.
