The operatives of the anti-kidnap unit of the FCT Police Command have gunned down eight suspected bandits and arrested six others at Kweri forest boardering Kaduna and Gauraka Niger/FCT.
The FCT Commissioner of Police, CP Olatunji Disu, disclosed this while parading the suspects at the command headquarters in Abuja on Monday.
He said the eight bandits were killed during exchange of fire with the operatives of the command, adding that some of the armed gangs fled with bullets wounds.
He gave the names of the arrested suspects as Abdulrahman Giwa, Baba Hassan, Mohammed Dahiru, Abubakar Bature, alias Dare, Abubakar Kadiri alias Dayi and Kabiru Ibrahim.
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According to him, the six arrested suspects were members of a kidnapping/banditry gang, which he said was led by one Mallam now deceased who carried out several kidnappings around FCT, neighbouring Niger and Kaduna axis.
“During the operations involving the assault of the strongholds of the bandits in Kweri and Gauraka forests, Mallam and eight other suspects were neutralised after an intense exchange of gunfire,” the CP said.
He however said two operatives of the anti-kidnap team sustained serious injuries and were both undergoing treatment in the hospital.
The CP further said that intelligence had revealed that the kidnap gangs kept their hostages in various locations in Gidan Dogo Forest in Kaduna, Gauraka Forest in Niger, Kweri Forest and Kachia Forest in Kaduna.