Kingsley Nwezeh
Police Force Headquarters yesterday paraded 32 crime suspects involved in transnational car theft, kidnapping, rape and homicide.
A total of 19 AK47 rifles, three revolvers, one sub-machine gun, two locally made pistols, a General Purpose Machine Gun (GPRG) and 453 rounds of ammunition were recovered by the suspects.
Also, 17 stolen vehicles were recovered from the transnational car theft syndicate.
Parading the suspects in Abuja, Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Frank Mba, a Commissioner of Police, said the suspects stole vehicles from different parts of the country, notably, Zamfara, Katsina and Kaduna States, which were sold to a certain Alhaji Garba in Niger Republic.
Mba said the stolen vehicles were later refurbished and resold to Nigeria.
“The Alhaji also deals in arms, sometimes, he exchanges cars with weapons”, he said.
The suspects include: Karimu Mohammed, 30; Imrana Abubakar, 32; Bala Abubakar, 55; Ibrahim Abubakar, 36 and Nasiru Musa, 33.
He said police detectives were working with Interpol and Nigerien counterparts to ensure that the culprit was arrested and brought to justice.
One of the suspects, Kasimu Mohammed, said he had stolen 30 vehicles in three years, preferring Toyota products owing to its marketability.
Mba called on those whose vehicles were stolen to report to the IG’s Intelligence Response Team’s headquarters with proof of ownership for collection.
Another gang of kidnappers and armed robbers were also paraded. One of the suspects, was the chief drug supplier, who sold rubber solutions, used for leather works but now converted to hard drug as well as sex enhancing drugs to bandits which he said was the driving force of sexual violence by criminals.
