Nigeria police arrest 1,334 suspects and rescue 383 kidnapping victims

Nigeria’s police say they rescued 383 kidnapping victims and arrested 1,334 suspects during intelligence-led operations carried out nationwide in July and August.

Anietie Inedu, a chief superintendent and the police force’s public relations officer, announced the figures in Abuja at a joint security briefing. He said the operations also recovered 175 firearms, more than 3,790 rounds of live ammunition, 93 vehicles and several rustled cattle. Police reported that 127 suspected criminals were killed during engagements with officers and other security forces.

Inedu attributed the results to intelligence-led and technology-driven policing, closer cooperation among security agencies and tactical operations. Police tactical teams also prevented what he described as a large-scale attack after confronting an armed group of about 240 bandits. Seventeen of the attackers were killed, he said.

Joint operations in Sokoto State rescued 32 victims at Maikujera in Rabah Local Government Area. At Amla-Cho Forest, armed bandits abandoned 13 kidnapped victims, who were rescued unhurt. Other operations involving police, vigilantes and additional security actors rescued 76 people in separate incidents.

Police reported further rescues after gunmen attacked two vehicles along Kabba-Ayere Road, where six victims were recovered, and along Mameramo-Adomu Road, where nine others were rescued. In Imo, officers disrupted what police described as an IPOB/ESN network, killing a suspected leader and recovering two AK-47 rifles, four empty magazines and a vehicle.

The force also described several arms interdiction operations. Officers recovered 551 rounds of AK-47 ammunition and 10 loaded magazines from a woman stopped on Doma-Yelwa Road. A follow-up operation produced another arrest linked to the ammunition supply network, while a separate operation recovered 870 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition from suspected gun-runners.

Police also arrested three suspects linked to a June 29 attack on officers at Aluu Division and recovered two AK-47 rifles stolen in that incident. Another operation resulted in 18 arrests and the recovery of 47 firearms, 12 stolen vehicles and 420 rounds of ammunition.