The Nigeria Police Force, NPF, has handed over a total of 3,980 arms of different calibres to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, NCCSALW.
This was disclosed in a statement on Thursday by the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi.
TheFact Daily learns that the arms handed over comprise 265 automatic rifles; 146 pump action guns; 1,909 locally fabricated pistols; 1,500 locally made single barrel guns; 98 locally made double barrel guns; 46 General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMGs); 16 locally made rocket launchers; 2 locally made Anti-Aircraft (AA) guns; and 7 Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs).
Equally handed over to the NCCSALW are 2,358 assorted calibres of ammunition and 1,057 assorted cartridges.
Supervising the handing over of the arms, the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, stressed that the exercise is part of the efforts of the NPF as a lead agency in internal security management, to curb the threat of the proliferation of illegal Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) trafficking within the country.
He averred that the Police Force under his leadership has been evaluating and re-evaluating its operational strategies while strengthening institutional capacity in relation to the generation of actionable intelligence and the conduct of special operations directed at proactively checkmating the menace of arms proliferation.
Consequently, the Police Chief has directed Commissioners of Police in charge of State Police Commands and their supervisory Assistant Inspectors-General of Police including Heads of Tactical Units of the Force to aggressively sustain the mop-up exercise in order to actualize the mandate of the Federal Government on the proliferation of small arms and light weapons.
IGP Baba further re-affirmed the commitment of the NPF towards continued partnership with the NCCSALW as both institutions strive to achieve the mandate of the Federal Government on the control of the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the country.
