THE Katsina State Police Command announced yesterday that it had rescued 171 kidnapped victims and neutralised five alleged kidnappers in the state over the last four months.
ASP Abubakar Sadiq, the command’s spokesman, told journalists yesterday at its headquarters that 1,005 persons were also arrested in connection with 853 reported instances, while 395 cases are being prosecuted in various competent courts of law across the state.
According to Sadiq, the operations were carried out between June 1 and September 30 as part of the command’s attempts to combat banditry, abduction, armed robbery, and other forms of crime and criminality in the state.
The police reportedly detained 53 suspected armed robbers, 82 suspected kidnappers, 73 murder suspects, and 90 suspected rapists throughout the campaign.
Similarly, 707 individuals were detained for a number of offenses including criminal force, intimidation, possession of hard drugs/dried leaves presumed to be Indian hemp, cultism, inciting disruption, and belonging to a gang of brigands, among others.
The Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Aliyu, presented 15 suspects accused of various crimes, noting that while the period under review had been challenging for the command, it had also recorded a substantial number of triumphs.
Aliyu, on the other hand, cautioned defiant criminals to either surrender or face the consequences of the law.
Items recovered include four AK-47 rifles, six locally made guns, 517 live rounds of ammunition, over 600 suspected rustled animals, 12 suspected stolen motor vehicles and motorcycles, 17 suspected stolen phones, 568 sachets of D5 tablets, 180 wraps of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp, 23 packets of Exzole tablets, 411 packets of rebozel tablets, and five packs of Diezole tablet.
“The fight against crime and criminality is so dynamic and not an easy one but I urge you to continue to project the hard and good work of the Police and other security agencies to the general public,” the police commissioner said.
