Nigerian Security Forces Arrest 115 Suspects in Multi-State Operations
Police and security agencies arrested over 115 suspects in coordinated operations across Nigeria, while bandits killed one person and abducted at least seven others in separate attacks.
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Nigerian security forces arrested at least 115 criminal suspects in coordinated operations across multiple states, even as bandit attacks claimed one life and resulted in multiple abductions over the weekend.
The Ondo State Police Command arrested 99 suspects in a coordinated inter-agency raid on Sunday, according to Peoples Gazette. Separately, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) detained 16 suspects for kidnapping, illegal mining, theft, and illegal possession of firearms and fake currency, The Nation Newspaper reported.
The arrests came as security challenges persisted across the country. Bandits killed one person and abducted at least seven others in separate attacks on communities in Kaduna, Kogi, and Ondo states, according to Daily Trust and The Nation Newspaper. In Ondo, gunmen kidnapped Joseph Kayode Aladesuyi, Secretary of Okeluju Local Council Development Area, along with two others at the Kajola settlement in Ilu-Abo community.
The Nigerian Navy foiled a suspected sea robbery attack and rescued 16 passengers along the Ibaka-Calabar Channel, The Nation Newspaper reported. The operation followed intelligence on suspicious criminal activity in the waterway.
In Borno State, troops from the Chief of Army Staff Special Intervention Battalion 7 and the 8 Division Strike Team engaged ISWAP terrorists in a firefight that resulted in casualties on both sides. A Federal High Court in Abuja admitted an AK-47 rifle as evidence in the trial of nine suspected terrorists linked to an attack in Yelwata.
Inspector General of Police Olatunji Rilwan Disu urged Kwara State communities not to surrender to bandits during a visit Monday. "Security agencies would reclaim communities in the state from bandits," Disu said, according to Daily Trust, declaring that criminal elements cannot drive residents from their ancestral homes.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu pledged his administration would fight terrorism and banditry "to a decisive end," The Nation Newspaper reported. The president said Nigeria would emerge victorious despite ongoing security challenges.