Police arrest 35 suspects in Zamfara killings

The Nigerian Police have arrested 35 suspects in connection with the killings in some villages in Zamfara State.Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood disclosed this yesterday in Abuja.He said normalcy has been restored in the affected area with the additional deployment of police personnel.

This came after Kodi village in Zurmi Local Council Area was attacked on July 24, 2018, where four people were killed.The police spokesperson revealed that the force was already embarking on Police Crime Prevention, Visibility and Confidence Building Patrols.He added that people in the affected villages have started returning to their homes.

Moshood said all the suspects have made useful statements to the police investigators, and also confessed to the killings in the affected villages.In another development, the police have paraded eight people involved in kidnap-for-ransom and armed robbery along Abuja-Kaduna-Kano highway.He disclosed that the suspects were responsible for the recent killings, kidnappings and armed robberies on Kaduna-Abuja-Kano roads.He said their crimes include the killing of a former commissioner in Katsina State, Prof. Halimatu Idris, on the July 22, 2018, as well as a nursing mother and her seven months old baby.

The police spokesman said as part of measures to restore safety and normalcy on the highways, the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, ordered the additional deployments of police personnel and vehicular patrol teams in the area.He added they were deployed to enforce Operation Absolute Sanity, to rid the routes of these bandits and hoodlums.

According to him, the IGP’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT) relied on intelligence report to embark on massive raid of identified kidnappers’ dens.The places raided included hideouts and black spots on the Kaduna-Abuja, Kaduna-Zaria-Kano highways.He said the IRT personnel engaged the bandits in a shootout that lasted several hours.

They also recovered some exhibits from them, while six of their victims were rescued.He stressed that all the suspects confessed to the various roles they played in the crimes.“Investigation is in progress and effort is being intensified to arrest other suspects still at large. They will all be arraigned in court on completion of investigation,” he said.

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