Police arrest foreigner for selling over 4,500 rifles to bandits

Etim Effiong

The operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, Zamfara State Command have paraded a foreigner, one Shehu Ali Kachalla, for gunrunning in Nigeria.

The police also paraded four other notorious suspects for banditry, kidnapping, cattle rustling, and illegal possession of firearms.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Shehu Mohammed said on Friday at the Police Headquarters in Gusau that the suspects were arrested through the efforts of the Federal Intelligence Investigation Bureau and Special Tactical Squad deployed by the Inspector General of Police to rid Zamfara and the North-West region of crime.

According to Mohammed, the arrest of the suspects was a result of the collaboration between the police and the state leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN).

Kachalla, however, confirmed to the police that he had been in the business of gunrunning for more than three years. He added in his statement that he had sold no fewer than 4,500 rifles to different criminal gangs across the north-west region.

Other suspects, who were arrested alongside Kachalla, said they had been terrorising many communities in Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina states in the North West, and Niger State in the North-Central part of the country.

Items recovered the foreigner and other bandits are four AK-49 rifles; nine magazines, 960 live ammunition, and assorted charms.

They were alleged to have kidnapped the younger brother of one Dr Dauda Lawal and confessed that they collected N20 million ransom, as well as received N10 million ransom for the abduction of the daughter of one Engineer Yahaya Maradun.

Abubakar Ali, another notorious kidnap suspect from Niger State, said he was operating within Kagarko and Chikun Local Government Areas of Kaduna State.

He also confessed that he had been in the criminal business for three years and has killed five of his victims who could not afford to pay ramson to regain freedom from captivity.

According to the suspect, their leader pays them between N600,000 and N700,000 in any abduction that attracts N20 million ransom and above.

Mohammed, on behalf of the state Commissioner of Police, CP Hussain Rabiu said the command would continue to work with any group or persons willing to work for the peace of Zamfara and the north-west region.

He assured the people of Zamfara that the command was working hard to ensure the state was free from all criminal activities.