Eight alleged bandits have been effectively neutralised by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command’s anti-kidnapping unit’s agents.
While parading suspects at the command headquarters in Abuja on Monday, FCT Commissioner of Police CP Olatunji Disu verified the occurrence and stated that the officers also detained six other people in the Kweri forest, which is located in Niger/FCT and borders Kaduna and Gauraka.
While some members of the armed gang were able to flee with bullet wounds, Disu said that the eight bandits were killed after a gunfight with the police officers.
Abdulrahman Giwa, Baba Hassan, Mohammed Dahiru, Abubakar Bature, sometimes called Dare, Abubakar Kadiri, also called Dayi, and Kabiru Ibrahim are the names of the people that were arrested.
The six suspects were part of a banditry and kidnapping organisation that was previously headed by a deceased person who was responsible for many kidnappings in the Federal Capital Territory and the neighbouring areas of Niger and Kaduna, according to CP Disu.
“During the operations involving the assault of the strongholds of the bandits in Kweri and Gauraka forests, Mallam and eight other suspects were neutralized after an intense exchange of gunfire,” the CP said.
Two members of the anti-kidnapping squad were shot and receiving treatment at the hospital, according to the Police Commissioner.
Additionally, Disu stated that information had shown that the kidnap gangs held their prisoners in a number of places in the Kaduna forests of Gidan Dogo, Gauraka, and Kweri.