The Nigeria police arrested 31,912 suspects over armed robbery, kidnapping, rape, unlawful possession of fire arms, cultism, murder and other criminal offences in one year nationwide.

The Force Public Relations Officers, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said this during a media briefing on Wednesday in Abuja.

He said 4,826 of the suspects were arrested over armed robbery, 3,078, kidnapping, 2,479, rape, 1,243, unlawful possession of fire arms, 3,523, cultism, 3,381, murder and 13, 402, other criminal offences.

Mr Adejobi said the force rescued 1,750 kidnap victims, recovered 2,566 firearms, 19,510 rounds of ammunition and 1,475 vehicles/motorcycles nationwide within the period under review.

According to him, the force also prosecuted 29,152 criminal cases across the country, with 17,679 of the cases being conclusively dispensed while 11,576 are still ongoing during the period.

He said 51 of the cases were currently under appeal at the respective appellate courts.

“Out of the dispensed cases, an impressive 16,200 have led to the conviction of suspects who have been handed various forms of punishments for their criminal acts,” he said.

Mr Adejobi said operatives of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Nigeria police had recently arrested 19 suspects over criminal activities across the country.

He said five AK-47 rifles; five pump action rifles, 150 live cartridges, one bullet proof jacket, one night vision telescope and vigilante uniforms were recovered from the suspects.

Mr Adejobi added that one torch light, one boot, one AA ammunition, six magazines and 142 AK-47 live ammunition were also recovered from the suspects.

The police spokesman said two of the suspects were arrested over kidnapping through coordinated efforts of IRT operatives and local vigilante groups in Asawa village in Kogi.

According to him, the suspects had received N1 million ransom from their first and second operations, N300,000 from the third and N2 million from the fourth.

He said the suspects were responsible for the series of robberies and kidnappings along Abuja-Okene-Benin road.

The police spokesman said the suspects had been involved in kidnapping for over four years and had orchestrated four successful kidnappings.

He said the criminal activities of the duo came to an end following a fierce gun battle with police operatives, where they were captured after exhausting their ammunition.

Mr Adejobi said AK-47 rifles and magazines were recovered from the suspects.

He said two suspects with over 22 years of “one chance” robbery experience were also arrested by police operatives.

Mr Adejobi said the suspects had demonstrated a mastery of deceptive tactics used in the criminal activities, adding that the duo was identified as persons of interest following interrogations of previous ‘one chance’ suspects.

He said the suspects were arrested in Suleja, Niger by diligent operatives of the IRT.

Mr Adejobi said the suspects would be charged to court upon conclusion of investigation into the cases.

(NAN)