Officers of the Nigerian police have arrested armed robbery suspects accused of terrorizing residents in Kano, the capital of Kano State, as well as surrounding towns.
A spokesman of the Kano State Police Command, Magaji Musa Majiya, told reporters on Monday that a team of officers from the special anti-robbery squad (SARS) intercepted the suspects during a surveillance patrol along Tudun Murtala. He said the suspected gangsters were attempting to burglarize a warehouse stocked with fertilizer and rice when they were arrested.
Mr. Majiya, who is an assistant superintendent of police (ASP), told the reporters initial police investigation revealed that the suspects had participated in an armed robbery at Full Mark Company along Hadejia Road, Kano. He said the suspects carted away N4 million and killed a security guard about two years ago.
According to the police spokesman, the police had also arrested a gang of assassins and hijackers of a fuel tanker. He said the suspects had attacked a fuel-carrying tanker as the driver slept inside it at a location along Eastern Bypass Road close to Hotoro quarters in Kano.
He said the hijackers had covered their faces with masks and tied the driver to a tree inside a nearby bush, leaving him for dead. He stated that the suspects drove away with the fuel tanker that contained 33,000 liters of fuel valued at N5 million. According to him, the suspects were arrested on their way to dispose of the goods, adding that they had confessed to the crime.
The police spokesman said the Kano State Police Command would allow no safe haven for armed robbers and other violent criminals. He stated that the command was determined to cast a wide dragnet in search of criminals operating in the state.
He said the command took seriously its duty to apprehend criminals and protect the lives and property of all citizens.