The police have recovered about 241 illegal arms and thousands of ammunition in Cross River, Ebonyi, Jigawa, Kano and Sokoto states.
The feat is in response to the directive of the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to commissioners in state commands across the country to recover all illegal and prohibited firearms in the hands of individuals.
The Cross River State Police Command recovered 325 illegal firearms from unauthorized individuals.
The state Commissioner of Police, Hafiz Mohammed Inuwa, announced this yesterday while parading 78 suspected armed robbers and cultists in the state.
He said the command has set up a six-man committee led by Simon Udofia, Assistant Commissioner of Police, to mop up all illegally acquired firearms.
Briefing newsmen in Ebonyi State yesterday, the Commissioner of Police, Mr Titus Lamorde, said 120 firearms and thousands of ammunition and cartridges were recovered from some individuals.
CP Lamorde said 62 firearms were recovered from a blacksmith’s tent in Ezzamgbo in Ohankwu Local Government Area of the state, whose owner is on the run.
He said the recoveries were made possible through the cooperation of good citizens of the state and the command’s CID unit.
The Jigawa State Police Command recovered 116 various types of firearms in possession of members of the public in the state, with majority of them being surrendered voluntarily.
The Commissioner of Police, Bala Zama Sanci, made the disclosure yesterday, while displaying the assorted firearms at the state police command in Dutse, saying 65 rounds of ammunition and six live cartridges were also recovered by the police during the exercise.
Also, the Kano State Police Command recovered 70 prohibited and illegally acquired fire arms and ammunition from individuals across the 44 local government areas of the state.
The Police Commissioner, Mr. Rabi’u Yusuf, told reporters that some of the weapons were recovered from criminals while others were voluntarily handed over by their owners to the police.
The rifles recovered were one Sniper rifle, 25 AK47, 1 G3, 2 Lar combat rifles, 23 locally-made and assorted pistols among others.
In Sokoto State, the police recovered items such as 61 arms, 906 rounds of AK47 ammunition, 42 double barrel and single barrel guns and 1,200 cartridges.
The police commissioner in the state said, “The exercise is ongoing. The exercise cuts across all the 36 states and the FCT. We will continue to do it. It is not an exercise of one day. It is an exercise of continuous nature.”
Other contributors are: Aliyu Hamagan, Dutse; Rakiya A. Muhammad, Sokoto; Richard P. Ngbokai, Kano.
