Female Gunrunner Arrested With 325 Live Ammunition In Zamfara

The Zamfara State Command of the Nigeria Police Force has confirmed the arrest of a female gunrunner who aids banditry operations in the state and its environs.

The suspect, Fatima Sani, was reportedly nabbed with no fewer than 325 rounds of live ammunition, Naija News understands.

Giving details of the operation that led to her arrest, the police spokesperson in the State, Mohammed Shehu, said the 35-years-old woman was arrested following an intelligence report that she was bringing arms and ammunition to bandits in Zamfara State from Lafiya town in Nasarawa State.

He disclosed that Sani was apprehended on 13th February 2023, by police detectives who were well-informed of her movement around the area.

She was on her way to deliver the ammunition to a notorious bandit kingpin operating in Zamfara forest when she was nabbed. “In the course of interrogation, the suspect confessed to having been into the business and that she had earlier supplied three (3) AK-47 rifles and one thousand (1000) rounds of AK-47 live ammunition to bandits operating within Zamfara. A discreet investigation is in progress, and the suspect will be charged to court for prosecution,” Shehu disclosed.

In another development, the state police command also confirmed it arrested members of a six-man gang, including a thirty-year-old kidnapper who masterminded the abduction of his own mother and was given N1m after the payment of N30m as a ransom for her release.

“On 12th February 2023, Zamfara Police Command, through its community policing engagement, acted on intelligence information that led to the bursting of kidnapping syndicate and the arrest of six serial kidnappers who have been terrorising different villages in Kaduna, Kano, and other neighbouring states such as Zamfara, Sokoto and so on,” the statement said.

Shehu revealed that in the course of the investigation, the command discovered that the suspects have carried out a series of kidnappings where an unspecified number of people were abducted and millions of naira collected as ransom.

Each suspect further narrated the number of kidnappings he participated in as well as the role he played in each kidnapping. The personnel said: “Surprisingly, one of the suspects, Thomas Ya’u, confessed that sometime last year, he masterminded the kidnapping of his biological mother and three others, as a result of the kidnapping, they collected N30m from the relations as ransom, and in turn, he was given N1m as his share.”