Paul Omokuvie, Bauchi
The Bauchi State Police Command has arrested 185 suspected criminals in connection with various crimes in the state, including two suspects who falsely presented themselves as the Governor of the state and Personal Assistant (PA) to the Governor, defrauding unsuspecting victims of millions of naira.
Parading the suspects before reporters at Command headquarters on Monday, Commissioner of Police, Habu Sani, said that the arrest was a demonstration of the ongoing fight against crime and criminality under Special “Operation Puff Adder”.
Commissioner Sani said that the Command’s tactical teams attached to Operation Puff Adder between the months of August and September, arrested 185 suspects in connection with armed robbery, kidnapping, cattle rustling and vandalism.
“Other suspects were arrested in connection with theft of electric cable, dealing with counterfeit currency, cultivation of weeds suspected to be cannabis/Indian hemp, criminally changing IMEI numbers of stolen/robbed cell phones and other heinous crimes in Bauchi State,” the Commissioner stated.
“Some of the suspects include two suspects responsible for many robbery cases, including the recent attempted armed robbery at Shafa filling station along Bauchi-Jos road and another two suspects who impersonated the Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, and defrauded innocent members of the public the sum of thirty seven million naira in the name of payment for 2019 Hajj pilgrimage,” the Commissioner said.
The police chief said that one of the suspects, Sukni Zakka, had passed himself off as the personal assistant to the Governor, while the other one, Iliyasu Ibrahim, alias “Du”, impersonated the Governor during phone conversations, adding that the fake PA usually lured and defrauded his unsuspecting victims by putting a call to the fake Governor, who in return answered the call and assured them of a Hajj slot.
According to the Commissioner, out of one hundred and eighty five suspects arrested, one hundred and thirty eight were charged to court, while fourty seven are still in the Command’s custody undergoing investigation.
He added that as a result of the operations, the Command recovered four AK-47 rifles, one pistol, one locally made submachine gun and seventeen other assorted firearms, sixty five live ammunitions, five cartridges and six pellets.
Other exhibits in display were fourty two machetes, four motor vehicles, Eeght motorcycles, one tricycle (KEKE NAPEP) and 45,000 liters of petroleum products.
The rest of the recovered items were: 9,000 metters of aluminum conductor valued about three million and five hundred thousand naira , twenty six international passports, application forms to Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, a bunch of assorted fetish charms, one hundred and fifty two pieces of counterfeit $100 notes, and 43 pieces of counterfeit N1000 and N500 notes, two computer laptops, thirty eight GSM handsets, a large quantity of harvested substances suspected to be cannabis/Indian hemp, 208 cows and 21 sheeps.
Commissioner Sani, while appreciating the members of the public for their support and cooperation in the on-going fight against crime, assured the general public by saying the Force “will not relent in performing our statutory responsibility of protection of lives and property of all citizens. We are appealing for more useful information that will lead to achieving the onerous task of maintenaing peace in Bauchi State.”