Thirty-nine suspects have been paraded by the Joint Task Force set up by the FCT Minister Barr Ezenwo Nyesom Wike to flush out armed hoodlums and other criminal elements from the Federal Capital Territory.
Nigeriacrime.com learned that the suspects were arrested during a raid of criminal hideouts and black spots in the FCT.
FCT Police Commissioner, Haruna Garba who heads the task force comprising of the NPF, Military, NSCDC and DTRS disclosed that operatives “carried out coordinated raids of criminal hideouts, uncompleted buildings, shanties and of course clearance operations in the bushes and forest bordering the FCT.
“Armed hoodlums from these border communities have been disturbing the peace of the residents of the FCT who reside at our boundaries with Niger, Nassarawa, Kogi and Kaduna state.
CP Haruna said, “The 39 suspects we are parading today have been under interrogation and will be charged to court after the investigation.
“Out of this number, eight (8) suspects are suspected to be members of one chance syndicate, as knives, handcuffs and swords were recovered from their vehicles with the following registration numbers;
“A red Golf car with Reg No. ER 09, Ash-coloured Nissan Almeira with Reg No. YAB 679 HG, A navy blue golf Car with no Number Plate, A white Mercedes GLK with Reg No. BWR 238 AY, A brown Mazda with Reg No. KWL 886 AX, A red Golf car with Reg No. BRN 1000 GWZ, A white coloured Carina E with Reg No. KW 196 MD and A white Salon car with Reg No. BSI 9719 Basa Plateau”.
Recall that at the commencement of the operation to flush out criminal elements in the FCT, “the joint Task Force arrested one hundred and thirty-five (135) suspects at various black spots located at; Kwali, Dutse-Alhaji, Mpape, Karu, AYA, Nyaya, Karimo, Karshi, Kuje, Airport road, Berger Roundabout, Jabi, Orozo and Mararaba etc.
The CP said, “Out of these numbers, seventy-five (75) suspects were arraigned in court for various offences, while sixty-five were sentenced to pay fines ranging from N5000 – N7000, the remaining ten were sentenced to community service.
“In the course of the two weeks operation, fifty-four (54) vehicles have been impounded.
“A substantial number of the vehicles are without number plates, others with tinted glasses, others with only plate numbers in front while others have only plate numbers at the back.
“Offending drivers/owners of these vehicles will soon be arraigned in court. In addition, two (2) locally fabricated guns, one locally made Berretta pistol, and one revolver double barrel gun with two live cartridges were recovered.
“Also recovered are three (3) full bags of leaves suspected to be cannabis sativa and quite several wraps of Indian hemp and illicit drugs.
Continuing the CP said, “I am happy to inform you that the incidences of one chance, armed robbery and abduction have reduced significantly in the last two weeks in the FCT since the launch of the operation.
Reiterating the commitment of the Joint Task Force to aggressively flush out miscreants from the FCT, the CP “enjoined the good people of FCT to remain vigilant and report suspicious activities to the Police and other law enforcement agencies.
“Your cooperation is required if we must defeat crime and criminality,” he said