Police arrest rustlers, foil bandits’ attacks in Kaduna, Katsina

The police have arrested two notorious rustlers at the Kasuwar Magani area in Kajuru LGA of Kaduna State.

The spokesman of the command, Mansir Hassan, in a statement, said police operatives, acting on credible intelligence, raided a hideout used by a syndicate involved in rustling.

He identified the suspects as 25-year-old Aminu Saleh and 24-year-old Jafar Ibrahim.

Hassan also said one Shafiu Abdullahi reported to Operation Fushin Kada that he received threatening phone calls demanding a ransom of N10m, with the callers threatening to kidnap him if the ransom was not paid. He said the tracking and response team swiftly acted, employing advanced techniques to locate and apprehend the suspects.

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The arrested individuals, Umar Baso, Shehu Filani and Babangida Abdulkarim, residents of Soba and Kajuru LGAs, confessed to their involvement and provided detailed accounts of their actions.

He further said operatives arrested two suspects linked to the supply of arms and ammunition to kidnappers operating across Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara states and recovered a fabricated AK-47 rifle and five rounds of 9mm live ammunition.

In Katsina, the police command thwarted two bandits’ attacks, rescuing five kidnapped victims and neutralising two suspected kidnappers.

In a statement, the command’s spokesman, ASP Abubakar Sadiq Aliyu, said that a distress call was received on August 25, 2024, regarding a bandits’ attack on Layin Minister village in Malumfashi LGA, where five people were kidnapped.

He said police operatives promptly responded, engaging the bandits in a gunfight and rescuing the victims unharmed.

He also said later that day, around 5pm, another distress call reported an attack on Marabar Kankara Village, Malumfashi LGA, and that police operatives bravely confronted the bandits, foiling the attack and recovering the corpses of two neutralised suspected armed bandits.