A man identified as Haruna Yusuf and two of his sons have been arrested by the Katsina State Police Command over their alleged involvement in banditry and sale of dangerous weapons in the Kaita Local Government Area of the state.
Yusuf after he was apprehended disclosed that he and his sons have sold over “10,000 arms and ammunition to bandits in the forest.”
The police command on Monday paraded Yusuf, his two sons; Shuaibu Haruna and Murtala Haruna, and 13 other suspects at the Katsina command headquarters for alleged banditry and supply of weapons to bandits.
The police recovered two General Purpose Machine Guns, one LAR rifle, and 200 pieces of anti-aircraft ammunition from the suspects.
Yusuf, 47, with his sons; 18-year-old Shuaibu and Murtala; 20, lived and allegedly perpetrated their criminal activities in Sawarya village of the Kaita LGA.
Those paraded also included two Nigeriens: Ibrahim Dabo, 19, and Umar Bello, 28.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Sanusi Buba, while speaking with newsmen attributed the arrest and the recovery of the items to “credible intelligence”.
He explained, “Based on credible intelligence, the command has been following a lead, one Lawan Zayyana, 35, of Muduru village, Mani Local Government Area of Katsina State, a notorious bandit and arms and ammunition supplier to bandits in the forest.”
“In the course of the investigation, the suspect was trailed and arrested after a serious gun battle which led to the arrest of his cohorts.”
“Consequently, Haruna Yusuf confessed to being the gang leader as he usually received the supply of arms and ammunition from Niger Republic and handed over to Lawan Zayyana, Haruna Adamu, and Auwal Abubakar who would, in turn, take the supply to bandits in the forest.”
“He confessed to having sold over 10,000 arms and ammunition to bandits in the forest.”
In a related development, twenty-five armed men have been intercepted by some youths in Ido area of Ibadan.
It was disclosed that the men arrested by the youths are Hausa and the development has raised concern in the area.