The police command in Katsina State said it has apprehended 168 suspects in connection with 105 reported cases across the state in September.

The command’s spokesman, DSP Abubakar Aliyu, made the disclosure at a press briefing on the achievement of the command on Friday in Katsina.

He said the suspects included 12 robbers, five for murder/culpable homicide, and over 20 suspected rapists.

Others were nine suspected vandals, two gun runners, three for unlawful possession of firearms, and 14 illicit drug peddlers.

Mr Aliyu added that the command has foiled several bandit attacks, neutralised five suspected bandits and rescued over 80 kidnapped victims within the period under review.

He further revealed that the police recovered 1, 298 rounds of live ammunition, four cartridges, one General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG), two AK-47 rifles, one locally fabricated gun and five suspected stolen vehicles.

Others, he said, were five suspected stolen motorcycles, 1,096 pieces of tramadol tablets, 42 pieces of exol tablets, wraps of dried leaves suspected to be cannabis and a large quantity of suspected vandalised electric cables.

He quoted the Commissioner of Police, Bello Shehu, extending his appreciation to people of the state for their support that led to that achievement.

“We sincerely express our deepest appreciation for their support, collaboration and assistance in our crime-fighting efforts to maintain law and order in the state.

“We solicit for more support and cooperation from the members of the public to enable us to further improve on these successes.”

He urged the public to continue reporting suspicious activities and crimes to the nearest police station or use the emergency numbers: 08156977777, 09022209690 and 07072722539.

(NAN)