By Dwelleth Morountodun
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Mohammed Adamu, on Monday said the swift response of the Puff Adder operation between
May 10 and June 14, has led to the arrest of 424 kidnappers across the country, with Kaduna State leading with 101.
Adamu, made the disclosure during a strategic review of internal security situation across the country with top senior Police officers.
He added that the review is with a view to proffering pragmatic and far-reaching solutions to crimes in the country.
He said: “The highest number of 101 kidnap suspects, were arrested in Kaduna State, followed by Katsina State with 79 arrests. 54 suspects were apprehended in Nasarawa State and 32 in Taraba State.
“In the same vein, a total of 44 murder suspects were arrested during the period under review, with the highest number of 7 in FCT and 6 in Kano State.
“In addition, 276 armed robbery suspects were arrested within the same period with the highest number of 38 in Edo State, followed by 25 in Nasarawa State and 23 in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).”
According to him, a total of 10,860 ammunition of various descriptions and calibre were recovered while a total of 301firearms including a rocket launcher, AK47 assault rifles, pistols and locally made gun, were similarly recovered from criminal elements across the country.
Adamu said the highest number of 80 came from Katsina State, followed by Edo State with 26 and Kaduna State with 25.
He said: “Furthermore, 176 suspected cultists were arrested across the country while 77 stolen vehicles were recovered by Operation Puff Adder operatives nationwide between 10th May, 2019 and 14th June, 2019, with the highest number of 29 in FCT.”
The IG said the conference will afford the NPF to review the pattern and trend of crimes over the past one month, highlight its achievements, identify challenges, geo-locate the current security threats and evaluate strategies with a view to strengthening our crime management template.
He admitted that there are still isolated cases of internal security breaches which often attract publicity and national attention, the crime rate in recent times has been on the decline. This is in contrast to the crime records over the preceding months, he added.