Nasarawa Police Command arrests 62 suspected kidnappers

The Nasarawa State police command says it has arrested 62 suspected kidnappers within the last one week.

Commissioner of Police, Bola Longe, while parading the suspects at the command’s headquarters on Monday in Lafia, attributed the feat to the efforts of “Operation Puff Adder,” an initiative of the Inspector General of Police tasked with curbing the menace of violent crimes.

Longe said that the suspects, including two women, were arrested from various hideouts in Nasarawa and Toto local government areas of the state.

According to him, personnel of the command under the special Operation Puff dder raided the kidnappers’ hideouts at  Mararaban-Udege, Odu hills and Gidan Kwano in Nasarawa Local Government on May 18 and May 21,  where they arrested 23 suspects.

He said that a similar raid on a hideout at Kenyehu village in Toto Local Government Area of the state paid off with the arrest of 39 suspects from their alleged “planning theatre”.

Longe explained that the two female suspects were discovered to be caterers, allegedly cooking for the suspects and their victims.

He also said that 19 suspected cultists were arrested from Mararaba, Ado and Masaka axis of Karu Local Government area of the state and had been charged to court.

He said that items recovered from the suspects included 11 firearms, 115 rounds of live ammunition, two vehicles and one motorcycle.

The Police Commissioner said that investigation was ongoing to arrest other suspects still at large, adding that all the suspects would soon be charged to court.

He, however, called for the support of the people through credible information, noting that the Police could not handle the issue of security alone.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the Nasarawa Police command had, on May 20, during the inauguration of “Operation Puff Adder”, paraded 14 suspected kidnappers from the same Nasarawa Local Government of the state. (NAN)