By Anne Osemekeh, Abuja
The Nigeria Police Force says it has apprehended 1,346 suspects for various crimes across the country in the last five weeks.
Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, who disclosed this on Friday, said the achievements were as a result of the ongoing drive to safeguard the country from the activities of criminal elements.
The total number of arrested suspects comprises of 385 armed robbery suspects, 238 kidnapping suspects, 341 murder/homicide suspects, 87 suspects connected with unlawful possession of prohibited firearms, 143 rape suspects and 151 cultism suspects.
Police also recovered 143 firearms of various calibres, 741 ammunitions, and 72 stolen vehicles, as well as the rescue of 461 kidnapped victims across the country, within the period under review.
Specifically, operatives of the FCT Command on 24th February, 2024, acting upon credible intelligence stormed Sardauna, Toto forests and arrested one Samaila Wakili Fafa, aka Habu Ibrahim, a kidnap kingpin on whom the Minister of the FCT had placed a bounty for his arrest.
The suspect confessed to several killings which he and his gang had executed, including the abduction and murder of one Barr. Chris Agidy, the legal aide to Senator Ned Nwoko and Mr Sunday Yahaya Zakwai, the village head of Ketti village.
Fafa led operatives to where he buried the remains of the late Barr. Agidy whose corpse was exhumed and deposited at Gwagwalada General Hospital.
In the same vein, on 4th Mach, 2024, a team from Operation Zenda Joint Task Force, acting on credible intelligence, invaded an arms manufacturing hideout at Amahundu, Nanev, Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State and arrested nine suspects including a Cameroonian.
Exhibits recovered from them include 8 Barretta Pistols under fabrication, 1 AK-47 rifle, 10 AK47 live ammunition, 5 Barretta pistol ammunition, four (4) welding gas cylinders and other fabrication materials.
Adejobi also stated that the Force, which recognizes the essential role of officer welfare in enhancing service delivery, has taken strategic steps to ensure that officers and men of the Force are adequately catered to.
Some of the recent activities of the Force in this regard, he disclosed, include the swift disbursement of insurance packages to families of fallen policemen within the past 9 months which amounts to
7.2 billion naira; the Police Awards and Commendation Ceremony scheduled for April 15th, 2024, at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, the NPF Housing Summit scheduled for April 22nd to 23rd, 2024, with focus on viable housing solutions and the launch of the Police Fund to support officers’ accommodation needs.
Adejobi stated that the Inspector General of Police, while emphasizing the importance of improving officer welfare and morale, as it directly correlates with effective service delivery and crime prevention, has urged all landlords and employers of domestic staff in the Federal Capital Territory, and by extension other States of the Federation, to ensure they visit police stations within their areas to request for, and fill forms for proper profiling of intended employees/tenants for employment and tenancy purposes so as to strengthen the capacity of the NPF to identify and deter potential threats within the FCT.
