The Kaduna State Police Command has arrested 16 suspected kidnappers and three suspected gunrunners, recovering 10 firearms of various calibres during operations conducted across the state in the past two weeks.
The Commissioner of Police, Mr Rabiu Muhammad, disclosed this on Tuesday while briefing journalists in Kaduna. He said the operations also led to the arrest of six suspects linked to a counterfeit currency syndicate and the recovery of 170 suspected counterfeit US dollar notes.
According to him, other items recovered included 190 solar inverters valued at about N69 million, 10 lithium batteries worth approximately N9 million, one stolen vehicle, 83 parcels of suspected hard drugs, 32 stolen mobile phones, two plasma television sets and 410 cattle.
Muhammad said the police arrested a 20-year-old woman, Aisha Barau, on July 21 while she was allegedly attempting to exchange counterfeit dollars for naira. He added that investigations led to the arrest of Abdullahi Muhammad, 55, and Danbala Jibrin, 57, who were allegedly linked to the counterfeit currency network. Three suspected gunrunners were also arrested in Jos, Plateau State, with two locally fabricated pistols recovered.
The commissioner further said a suspected kidnapper, Abdullahi Mohammed, popularly known as “Aala”, was arrested in Kaduna, with one AK-47 rifle and five rounds of ammunition recovered from him.
He said the command also recovered 80 cattle and 10 sheep allegedly rustled from Damanko Village in Zaria Local Government Area, while urging residents to continue providing credible information to security agencies.
