Police recover 84 arms, ammunition in Kaduna

The Police in Kaduna state on Friday, said it had recovered 84 arms and 120 live ammunition in the state.The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Austin Iwar, stated this at a media briefing in Kaduna.Iwar said that the recovered arms comprised 20 AK-47 rifles, 42 dane guns, 15 pump action guns, four locally-made pistols and three revolver guns.

Also recovered, according to him, are three Boxer motorcycles, three military boats, two berates, two bows and arrows, 40 “weaponized’’ clubs and 30 cutlasses and charms.

Iwar attributed the successes recorded by the command within a few weeks, to the diligence of officers and men of the command.He said that the operation that led to the recovery of the arms was in response to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Ibrahim Idris’ directive, adding that the command was supported by Kaduna State Government Disarmament Programme.

According to him, following the directive that all Police commands should immediately commence mop-up of all prohibited and unauthorised firearms to solve the problem of proliferation of firearms in the country, the command swung into action.Iwar, however, said that recovery of firearms in the state had been gradual as it involved extensive negotiations, adding that the effort was yielding result.

He said that the command had always collaborated with community leaders on crime prevention in the state, adding that the relationship helped in developing the renunciation of violence and crime and retrieval of firearms programme.“This process led to renunciation by a total of 760 criminals, bandits in Anchau Local Government Area in the state.’’

He said the programme would be sustained in the state as the command was currently engaging with community leaders across the state to bring criminals into mainstream society.

The police boss said a total of 70 street gangs called “Sara Suka’’ were arrested, with various dangerous weapons around the state.“The weapons include daggers machetes, Weaponized clubs and iron bars,’’ he said

He said that 20 of the suspects had been charged to court while the remaining were still under investigation and were making useful statements.Iwar urged residents of the state to remain law-abiding and report to the police or nearest security agency any suspicious activity for prompt action.