Kaduna State Police Command has paraded 986 persons for violating the COVID-19 lockdown order imposed by the State government in order to curb the spread of the pandemic.
The Commissioner of Police, CP Umar Musa Muri, while addressing newsmen in Kaduna, Wednesday, explained that the forty-eight (48) suspects are mostly religious leaders and beer parlour operators.
CP Muri said the suspects have been charged to court for prosecution, while the remaining suspects would be arraigned in court accordingly.
The Commissioner of Police added that the command in collaboration with the force headquarters Abuja, had on 5th February, 2020 launched a well-coordinated operation code named “Taking the battle to the bandits camps”, where several identified notorious bandits’ camps within Birnin Gwari and Giwa axis were successfully destroyed.
As a result, he said, the Command apprehended ninety-one (91) suspects of various criminal offences in the State, including banditry, armed robbery, kidnapping, culpable homicide, theft and other crimes.
The Commissioner stated that recoveries made during the operation included fifteen AK47 rifles, ten English made pistols, ten locally made guns, one pump action rifle, one locally made revolver pistol, one G3 gun and one thousand five hundred and seventy five live ammunitions.
Others, he added, are twenty eight live cartridges, twenty one rounds of G3 ammunition, twenty motor vehicles of different and models and descriptions, nine motorcycles of different models, and three tricycles.
He further explained that two hundred and forty six cows, sixty sheep, twenty bags of rice, six bags of beans, seventy one pieces of cutlasses/knives/swords/scissors, twelve mobile cellphones, one anti tracking device, ten TV/DVD sets, sixteen laptops/ iPads, fourteen Italian handbags, two iron rods and eight bags of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp were also recovered.
CP Muri said diligent investigation into various allegations was ongoing as some of the suspects had confessed to their crimes and would be prosecuted accordingly.
He noted, “The major yardstick to measure a commands achievement is through the number of convictions gained.
” The Kaduna State command was able to secure 38 convictions on various criminal allegations within the period under review as I ensure that the police do not go to courts for jamboree.”
He enjoined the people of the State to keep supporting the command with prompt and useful information that would aid the relentless battle against criminal elements by reporting any suspicious persons to the nearest police station or via the command’s designated emergency response numbers.
