The police said they have arrested three suspects over housebreaking, robbery of gold, and other valuables in Abuja.
The Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said this during a media briefing in Abuja.
He added that the suspects were arrested following an investigation by operatives of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT).
Adejobi said further investigation revealed that the prime suspect in the case was a fish trader at the Kado fish market in Abuja.
He said the suspects had raided three houses in the Lugbe area of Abuja before getting to the fourth house, where they jumped the fence and used a motor jack to expand the bars of the burglary.
Adejobi said the suspects expanded the bars of the burglary and had access to the house, where they searched for items they could steal.
He said in the process, they found a safe in the house, went away with it, used a hammer and chisel to break the safe forcefully, and found money, documents, and gold.
“Upon the discovery, the prime suspect contacted a buyer to dispose of the items, and he realised over N60 million after selling the items,” he said.
Adejobi said operatives of the IRT had also arrested 16 suspects in connection with the theft and robbery of motorcycles and tricycles in Plateau.
He said the suspects, who were particularly involved in moving around at late night, picking up any tricycle parked without supervision, were arrested following credible intelligence.
The police spokesman said the suspects were also involved in moving around and stopping motorcyclists on the road while parading themselves as police officers with fake identity cards.
He said the members of the syndicate, who posed as policemen and accused motorists of late night movement, were engaged in confiscating motorcycles and telling them to go to the nearest Police Division to retrieve the motorcycles.
He said the suspects had so far stolen several motorcycles, which they had sold to the receiving group in their syndicate.
Adejobi said police operatives had recovered eight motorcycles and 11 tricycles from the suspects.
He said police operatives had in the past six weeks arrested a total of 1,284 suspects over the offences of armed robbery, kidnapping, rape, homicide, cultism, and other criminal offences.
Adejobi said 307 of the suspects were arrested for armed robbery, 296 for kidnapping, 301 for homicide, 176 for rape and defilement, and 204 for cult-related offences.
The police spokesman said 284 firearms, 6702 rounds of ammunition of various calibres, and 107 vehicles were recovered from the suspects, while 97 kidnap victims were rescued during the period under review.
(NAN)
