The Police have arrested 18 suspects in connection with the recent mayhem in Offa, Kwara State, as well as Doga and Bali local government areas of Taraba State respectively, during which several lives were lost and property worth millions of naira destroyed.
The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), ACP Moshood Jimoh who disclosed this to newsmen while parading the suspects in Abuja on Sunday, said that while eight principal suspects were arrested in the Offa bank robbery, 12 suspects nabbed for the killings in Donga and Bali local government areas of Taraba State.
According to him, “the items recovered from the suspects include; seven AK47 rifles, four locally made Revolver pistols and 30 rounds of AK47 Ammunition, seven operational vehicles of the armed robbers and assailants in the two incidents.”
Jimoh stated that following the incidents in the two states, the Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim Idris has ordered deployment of three Police Mobile Force units, high powered police investigation team, Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) with 10 crew members and Anti-Robbery equipment to Kwara State and three additional Police Mobile Force units to Taraba State to beef up security in the areas.
The teams, according to him, are under strict instructions to prevent further attacks, arrest perpetrators and carry out a discreet investigation into the Offa bank robberies and recent killings in Donga and Bali LGAs of Taraba State.
According to him, “the Police teams will carry out intelligence gathering, raids of identified criminal spots/flashpoints, stop and search operations, visibility and confidence-building patrols, the arrest of perpetrators and further investigation into the incidents.
“The immediate intervention and preliminary investigation carried out by the high-powered Police Investigation Team deployed by the IGP working in synergy with the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department in the two commands.