TheCable

The Kaduna police command has arrested eight persons suspected to be highway robbers on the Kaduna-Abuja road.

Mansir Hassan, spokesperson of the command, announced the development in a statement on Thursday.

He said the suspects are members of a robbery syndicate.

The police spokesperson said the suspects were nabbed by operatives of the tollgate divisional police headquarters on January 27 while on patrol along Kaduna-Abuja road.

“The patrol team, at about 1100 hours, sighted and intercepted a suspicious vehicle with seven passengers who were met changing their clothing to seemingly operational ones,” NAN quoted Hassan as saying.

“When accosted, they could not offer a plausible explanation, thus, they were moved to the divisional headquarters. In the course of investigation, a locally-fabricated pistol with three live 20 gauge shotgun cartridges were recovered from them.

“The seven suspects included Sheriff Abubakar, Hassan Adam, Nura Mustafa, Abdullahi Mohammed, Umar Mohammed, Umar Mohammed and Isa Usman.

“The eight member of the syndicate, Yusuf Danmakurdi, was arrested by the Divisional Police Headquarters in Tafa.

“From our findings, the syndicate often attack motorists along the Kaduna-Abuja highway. Worst hit are people whose vehicles have broken down.

“They attack mostly articulated vehicles carrying goods such as rice, beans, electronics. They also attack fuel tanks. They usually move with an extra vehicle, a van or bus, into which they pack the aforementioned goods.

“In the case of a loaded fuel tank, they will restrain the driver and his partner in the bush, move with the tanker, sell the petroleum product and abandon the vehicle.”

Hassan said that the suspects would be charged to court after the completion of investigation.

He added that Audu Ali, Kaduna commissioner of police, commended the operatives for the arrests and charged them to work towards ridding the state of all criminal elements.