Ibrahim Abdullahi, a forty-year-old man, and his son, Abubakar Ibrahim, 21, were among four suspects arrested by the Katsina Police Command for allegedly supplying guns to bandits, The PUNCH reports.
The other two suspects are Tukur Musa, 35 and Rabiu Musa, 19. The four suspects were arrested on June 21, 2021, by the mobile police team of the Katsina Police Command.
The Command spokesperson, Gambo Isah, confirmed the arrest at a press conference in Katsina on Friday, shortly before the suspects were paraded at the police command headquarters, Katsina.
He said N3,45m was also found in their possession at the time of the arrest.
The police spokesman explained that the suspects were arrested along the Tsaskiya /Ummadau road, Safana Local Government Area of Katsina State, while returning from Rijana forest located along Kaduna/Abuja highway where they had gone to supply six AK 47 to a bandits’ leader known as Tukur Rabiu.
Isah said “Ibrahim Abdullahi who is the leader of the gunrunning team confessed that they collected the rifles from another bandits leader, Abu Rabe, who is residing between Rugu and Dumburum forest in Katsina /Zamfara states and took them to the bandits leader at Rijana forest. Ibrahim said he received N100, 000 for every AK 47 supplied to the bandits’ leader at Rijana forest.”
The command spokesman added that the N3.45m found on the suspects was concealed underneath the seats of the two motorcycles the suspects were riding when the mobile police team arrested them. He said investigation was still ongoing on the matter.
Meanwhile, a bandit was killed while one AK 47 rifle was recovered from members of his gang who stormed Tinya village, Batsari Local Government Area of Katsina State on June 24, 2021.
The police spokesman said a team of policemen in collaboration with a vigilante group in the area engaged the gang in a shootout during which the bandit was killed.
He added that 12 cows and eleven sheep initially rustled by the bandits were also recovered.
