By Suleman T. Ahmad
Zamfara state command of the Nigeria Police Force has paraded a 30-year-old female gunrunner, Fatima Sani suspected to be supplying bandits with arms and ammunition in Zamfara state.
Parading the suspects in Gusau, Zamfara state capital, the Police Public Relations Officer of the command, SP Muhammad Shehu says, the success was part of the joint efforts of the Police and all sister security outfits to mop-up the state of all criminal activities ahead of the 2023 elections.
“On 13th February, 2023 Police detectives arrested the above mentioned female Gunrunner in possession of 325 rounds of live ammunition, following the intelligence information obtained about her movement with the said exhibit from Lafia in Nasarawa state to a notorious bandit’s kingpin herbanating in Zamfara forest.
“In the course of interrogation, the suspect confessed to having been into the business and that she had earlier supplied three (3) AK 47 Rifles and one thousand (1000) rounds of AK 47 Live Ammunition to bandits operating within Zamfara,” the Police spokesperson said.
Other suspects arrested include Thomas Ya’u, 30; Abdulsamad Muhammad, 45; Bello Abdullahi, 35; Abubakar Namadi, 30; Suleiman Gabriel, 20 and Christopher Gabriel, 20 who specializes in kidnapping for ransom.
One of the suspects, Thomas Ya’u from Makarfi local government of Katsina state confessed that he was involved in the kidnapping of his ”mother” and received N30m Naira as ransom out of which he received N1m as his own share.
“I was involved in one kidnap operation ever. The kidnap of my mother, I mean the wife of my uncle. We received a total of N30m as ransom out of which I was given N1m (as my share) and they (kidnapping colleagues) later came and collected it (the 1 million Naira) back leaving me with no gain out of it,” the suspect confessed.
When interrogated further, Thomas Ya’u also confessed that he even gave his own contribution to the family to raise the 30 million Naira ransom requested to free the victim.
“During the raising of ransom within the family, I contributed in two installments. Because I don’t have money, I was asked to give N15,000 in the first round. But I couldn’t remember the exact amount I contributed in the second round of the ransom raising,” the suspect added.
Another suspect paraded by the Police command was Rabiu Umar who was arrested with 1000 registered MTN SIM cards suspected to be supplied for criminal activities in the state.
SP Muhammad Shehu says, discreet investigation is in progress and the suspects will be charged to court for prosecution as soon as the investigations are completed.
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