Police Parade 31 Abuja-Kaduna Highway Robbery Suspects

*Recover 22 AK 47 rifles

Alex Enumah in Abuja

Police on Monday paraded 31 robbery and kidnap suspects said to have been terrorising travelers along the Abuja-Kaduna highway.

Also paraded was a gang of armed bandits in Zamfara State, led by their commander, one Mohammed Abubakar.

Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, while parading the suspects before newsmen in Tafa Kagarko LGA of Kaduna State, said the arrest of the suspects was part of renewed efforts by the force to bring crime to its bearest minimum and also ensure the safety of Nigerians in all part of the country.

He recalled that only few weeks ago, part of the Abuja-Kaduna highway was taken over by armed bandits, who kidnapped for ransom, robbed innocent Nigerians on the highway and in villages and towns along the Abuja-Kaduna highway.

He said the situation led the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris to deploy the Special Tactical Squad (STS) with a mandate to restore safety along the area.

Following the success of the STS, whose mandate spread down to Zamfara, Sokoto and some North Central States, the Force Spokesman disclosed that operations of the STS would soon be replicated in all trouble spots to ensure that the country is safe again for all.

“The STS mandate is to completely flush out crimes and within just a short while they have arrested over 1,000 suspects, recovered 22 AK 47 rifles, one dane gun, a Toyota Corolla and Rav4 cars among others from the suspects”, he said.

The suspects, who could not speak in the English language, however confessed to the crimes.

Among them are, Sufiyan Abdullahi and Umaru Suleiman, who admitted to have collected the sum of N12m from one of their kidnapped victims before he was released. They were arrested on the 16 of August, 2018.

Also paraded are, Yinusa Musa aka Mukuro, Abubakar Isah and Mohammed Abubakar, said to have terrorised and killed several persons in Zamfara.

Others are Ibrahim Usman Ahmed Isah, Yusuf Mohammed, Auta Bello, Abubakar Abdullahi, Yusuf Iliasu, Dauda Saleh, Alhaji Suleiman and Anwal Mustapha.

Moshood, however said that the suspects would all be arraigned in court immediately after the conclusion of their investigations.