By; RAYMOND TEDUNJAYE, Lagos
No fewer than 139 suspected hoodlums have been nabbed in Abuja by the operatives of the newly launched Special Intervention Squad (SIS) by the Inspector General of Police IGP Kayode Egbetokun in two weeks.
Assorted firearms and ammunition totalling 17 and 604 respectively were recovered by the operatives, with 154 kidnapped victims rescued within the period.
The breakthrough was consequent upon the bolstering of the security architecture of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), with the recent launch of the Squad.
The Force Public Relations Officer ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, who made the disclosure on Saturday, listed the recoverd exhibits to include three GPR Chargers, two AK-47 rifles, one Type-06, four locally fabricated guns, one Berretta pistol, two Makarov pistols, four locally fabricated pump action guns, 504 pieces of AK-47 ammunition, 100 pieces of AA ammunition.
He disclosed that all the kidnapped victims were rescued on hurt.
According to ACP Adejobi, “Prominent among the recent successes recorded is the interception of a group of persons along the Abuja-Kaduna expressway who were major suppliers of arms and ammunition to bandits operating in Niger, Zamfara, and Kaduna states.
” In a more recent event, in the early hours of Friday 26th January, 2024, men of the IGP-SIS engaged some armed bandits within the FCT-Kaduna axis in a fierce gun battle and neutralised 3 of them including their gang leader, one Mai-Gemu (aka Gadoro). It is crystal clear that with this operation, the gang and its camp have been destroyed.
” The IGP-SIS operatives on the 21st of January 2024 arrested 2 major gun-running kingpins who had been supplying locally fabricated arms and various types of ammunition to several assailants operating in the North-Central region of the country.
” The squad also arrested 2 kidnappers in the Jikwoyi area of the FCT and recovered several arms and ammunition from them after overwhelming the gang in a gun battle which also led to the rescue of their kidnapped victim.
” The Inspector-General of Police, while reiterating that the SIS will be launched beyond the FCT to other states across the country for effective security management in the country, has ordered the tactical deployment of several operatives of the IGP-SIS to areas within the FCT still grappling with security breaches to combat every form of criminality that might surface.”.
