Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Niger State Command, have recovered 27 new rifles from two suspects during a routine stop and search operation in Kontagora area of the state.
The spokesman of NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, said the suspects, Danjuma Auta (35) and Daniel Danrangi (25), both male and from Dirin Daji in Sakaba Local Government Area of Kebbi State, were arrested on the Kontagora-Zuru Road in Niger State on Monday night.
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Mr Babafemi quoted the Niger State Commander of the agency, Mr Aloye Isaac Oludare, as saying that the duo were arrested with 12 locally fabricated AK-47 rifles and 15 locally fabricated pistols in a sack.
He said, “Kontagora where the weapons were seized is about 107 kilometres from Kagara, a town in Niger State where there have been mass abductions of women, children and secondary school students in the last one month.
“Preliminary investigation shows that the fabricator of the weapons resides in Kamfanin Waya, not far from Kontagora”, and added that, “The suspects and the weapons will be transferred to the state police command in Minna.”
Mr Babafemi said that in another operation, the Ondo State Command of NDLEA raided Ita-Ipele and Ipele forests in Owo LGA of Ondo State and arrested six suspects: Stephen Ikechukwu (38); Stephen Friday (32); Austin Osadebe (58); Friday Paul (29); Adebayo Raphael (25) and John Pius (45).
He quoted the Ondo State Commander of the agency, Mr Haruna Gagara, as saying, “A total of 41kg of cannabis sativa and 6kgs of cannabis seeds were recovered during the operation, while a total of five hectares of cannabis farm was located and destroyed.”
Meanwhile, the Zone B Comptroller, Federal Operations Unit (FOU) of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Kaduna, Al-Bashir Hamisu, said 180 pieces of assorted jackknife have been confiscated in Zamfara State.
The FOU Zone B which is in charge of the North West and Kogi State also recovered 55 kegs petrol and 49 kegs of diesel.
The comptroller disclosed this while showcasing the items to newsmen in the state.
According to him, the knives were intercepted in Tsafe, Zamfara State, from a man on a motorcycle, explaining that the knives, the petrol and the gasoline were part of items aiding the activities of bandits and kidnappers in the North West.
He assured the public that the customs would contribute its quota towards fighting insecurity in the country.
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