Six individuals for alleged banditry, kidnapping, and cattle rustling were detained, according to police officials in Zamfara, who also claimed to have neutralized a bandit. This was said in a statement issued by SP. Muhammad Shehu, the state’s police public relations officer, on Thursday in Gusau.
Shehu added that the command’s police officers successfully repulsed a bandit attack and found two AK-47 rifles, 104 rounds of live ammo, two magazines, and a number of charms. On January 1, while conducting a confidence-building patrol along the Gusau-Magami-Dansadau road, police tactical operators got a distress call concerning preparations by bandits to block the road and target commuters and, as a result, several villages.
The police personnel deployed to the areas and attacked the bandits in gunfire. According to him, “one of the bandits was neutralized and the attack was repulsed due to the superior firepower of the police operatives,” and “they escaped to the forest with potential gunshot wounds.”
He said that two suspects were apprehended for alleged kidnapping and livestock rustling as a result of police tactical operatives acting on intelligence while conducting stop-and-search operations and confidence-building patrols. The accused admitted to engaging in kidnapping and livestock rustling in the states of Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, and Niger during questioning.
The suspects further admitted that they are members of the group led by Bello Turji, the most well-known robber. He added that on January 1 at around 13:30 hours, police tactical operators apprehended a gang member of the bandit kingpin Halilu Kachall while out on a confidence-building patrol and stop-and-search operation.
Police tactical operatives stationed along the Gusau-Tsafe route on a rigorous patrol detained further suspected bandits on January 2 at around 12:15 a.m. “During the course of the inquiry, the suspect admitted that they are a member of a gang of bandits operating in Mada, Wonaka, Yandoto, and Tsafe,” the official stated. “Their gang boss, Malam Tukur.” He claimed that on January 3, law enforcement officers also detained a notorious bandit’s informant who supplies information to other bandits operating in the state’s Kaura Namoda, Birnin Magaji, Zurmi, and Shinkafi Local Government Areas.
At the conclusion of the inquiry, the suspects who are now in police custody will be charged in court, according to the spokesman. (NAN)