Ebonyi police demolish gun factory, recover 146 firearms

Seize 324 ammunitions in C’River, others in Kano

The Ebonyi State Police yesterday said that it has demolished an arms factory in the state.Commissioner of Police in Ebonyi State, Titus Lamorde, disclosed in a statement in Abakaliki that a cache of 146 illegal firearms and assorted ammunitions in possession of unauthorised persons were seized.

Lamorde said the arms were recovered in compliance with the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris’ directive to all commands CPs and other police formations to mop up firearms and ammunitions in circulation nationwide.He said following the directive, the command setup a taskforce headed by a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in charge of Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Oyeyemi Oyediran to carry out the mop up.

The task force, he said, recovered some of the arms from some persons in the state who have been charged to court for illegal possession of firearms.

Lamorde said the Police, which acted on a tip-off, destroyed a factory where guns were being manufactured at Mgbo in Ohaukwu Local Council of the state.

In a related development, the police in Cross River State Police Command have recovered 324 imported and locally made arms and ammunitions from suspected criminals in Calabar, the state capital.

Commissioner of Police, Hafiz Mohammed, made this known yesterday while parading some of the suspects at the Command Headquarters in Calabar.
He said the proliferation of arms and ammunition within the state had assumed a dangerous dimension, stating that as part of the command’s resolve to mop up illicit arms, a committee has been set up to undertake the assignment.

Meanwhile, in its determination to eliminate all forms of crimes and criminalities ahead of the 2019 general elections, the Kano State Police Command yesterday recovered assorted rifles and ammunitions in the state.

According to the Police, bandits and herdsmen voluntarily returned a large number of the firearms, while the others were recovered during a gun battle with armed robbers.Addressing journalists at the Bompai headquarters of the Police Command, the Commissioner of Police, Rabiu Yusuf, said the recovered ammunitions include 27 AK 47 rifles, two live riffles and four pump action guns.

Also recovered were one G-3 rifle, one magnum bow United State (US)-made, 319.6mm live ammunition, 86.3mm live ammunition, 127 cartridges and 17 magazines.

Rabiu said the mop up exercise was in compliance with the IGP’s directive on the recovery of illegal firearms from individuals and bandits across the country.