The police command in Kaduna State said its operatives arrested a suspected bandit and recovered an AK-47 rifle in Mariri Village, Saminaka, Lere Local Government Area of the state.

The command’s spokesman, Mohammed Jalige, confirmed the arrest in a statement on Saturday in Kaduna.

Mr Jalige said the command received credible intelligence on the suspected movement of illicit arms around Mariri Village.

According to him, the Commissioner of Police, Yekini Ayoku, ordered an immediate security cordon of the area, which yielded positive results with the arrest of a suspected armed bandit at about 6:00 p.m. on Thursday.

“Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect, aged 25, hailed from the same Mariri village.

”Recovered from him are the following items;  One Ak47 rifle loaded with 29 rounds of 7.62 X 39mm live ammunition and one mobile phone as he confessed to having been a member of a Kidnapping and cattle rustling syndicate in the area.

“The commissioner, while reiterating the directive of the IGP, ordered for a meticulous investigation in a bid to arrest other members of the gang as well as recovering their operational logistics for prosecution,” he said.

He said the commissioner called on the communities to redouble their current effort in providing actionable and result-oriented intelligence such as this to assist the command and its sister agencies to minimise the current security challenges in the state.

(NAN)