Niger Police arrests 104 suspected rustlers, recovers 672 cattle

In what could be described as the biggest harvest of arrest in recent time, the Niger State police Command has paraded no fewer than104 suspects for various offences, ranging from kidnapping, armed robbery, cattle rustling, homicide, rape and unlawful possession of firearms. The command has also recovered 672 cattle from rustlers across the state in the last one month alone.

Parading the suspects before newsmen at the police headquarters, in Minna, on Tuesday, the command Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Bala Elkana said that this is the outcome of the “operation flush them out” launched by the command in the wake of the high rate of cattle rustling in the state.

It could be recalled that the state police command last month, deployed a helicopter for area surveillance and about 300 armed policemen to all the clash points across the state to check the activities of armed bandits across the state.

“This is in conjunction with the Inspector General of Police (IGP) tactical unit and Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SAS).

Elkana further disclosed among exhibits recovered from the suspected criminals are three AK47 rifles with 334 rounds of live ammunition, one SMG rifle with six rounds of live ammunition.

Others include 12 single barrel guns, four locally made pistols, one revolver pistol.

He explained that most of the arms were intercepted around Babana in Borgu local government of area of the state, a border town border Benin republic.

Elkana further stated that the air surveillance has yielded results, especially in the areas where illegal mining activities are on the increase. They are Gwada – Sarkin Pawa and Soka Kahuta in Minna metropolis.