The police command in Kaduna has arrested seven suspected bandits and recovered five firearms with live ammunition in separate intelligence-led operations across the state.

The command spokesperson, Mansir Hassan, confirmed the incident in a statement issued on Friday in Kaduna.

Mr Hassan said the first operation was carried out on January 28 at about 5:45 p.m., following credible intelligence that some suspects were in possession of prohibited firearms.

According to him, detectives from the Anti–Car Theft Section of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) immediately acted on the information, leading to the arrest of five suspects.

Mr Hassan said items recovered during the operation include one AK-47 rifle with two fully loaded magazines, two Beretta pistols with one fully loaded magazine, and one locally fabricated Beretta pistol with seven rounds of live ammunition.

He said the suspects were currently in custody while investigations were ongoing to uncover other criminal networks connected to them.

In a related development, Mr Hassan said that on January 29, acting on credible intelligence on the movement of suspected bandits in possession of arms, the divisional police officer (DPO) of Zaria City Division led a team of 47 Police Mobile Force (PMF) operatives on stop-and-search duties.

“The operation resulted in the arrest of two suspects, Adamu Lawal and Abdulhadi Lawal, both from Malumfashi Local Government Area of Katsina State, with one locally fabricated firearm recovered from them,” he said.

He said the suspects were cooperating with investigators to provide information that would aid further arrests.

Mr Hassan said the commissioner of police, Rabiu Muhammad, commended the officers for their professionalism and swift intelligence-led response and reiterated the command’s zero tolerance for banditry and all forms of criminality in the state.

(NAN)