The Department of State Services has arrested a number of criminal elements and seized a large cache of lethal weapons from bandits and gunmen operating from different parts of the country a few days to the 2023 elections.
The DSS in a statement signed by its Public Relations Officer, Dr. Peter Afunanya, said the raids were carried out based on proactive and intelligence-led operations across the states.
Among the operations carried out by the services are those conducted on a property along the Airport Road in the Nasarawa Area of Kano State during which a huge cache of arms and other dangerous weapons were recovered, and a raid in Zamfara State which led to the arrest of a gunrunner, Aliyu Yahaya, an associate of Kachalla Damina, a suspected bandit who operates around Dansadau, Zamfara State.
Similarly, the service also picked up two arm couriers: Tukur Usman and Illiyasu Adamu in Chikun LGA of Kaduna State on Tuesday and recovered 372 rounds of 7.62 X 39mm ammunition and 26 rounds of live ammunition for GPMG rifle.
The two men are suspected arm suppliers to bandits in Zamfara State. On the same day, the DSS had picked up Shafíu Usman and Ahmed Nasiru on the Barkin Ladi-Pankshin Road, Plateau State while on transit to deliver ammunitions to their customers and seized the 612 rounds of ammunition for GPMG-120 and AK-492 concealed in a bag of rice.
Before then, DSS operatives had arrested Fajuwon Isaac in Asaba, Delta State, and recovered 4,503 rounds of pump action rifle ammunition among others and also detained the quartet of Sunday Muokwue, Oforjeri Osita, Ude Bernard John and Okechukwu Emeka and recovered among others from them, one AK-47, 3,985 rounds of AK-47 ammunition from the suspects.
The secret service said that the operations are a continuation of similar ones executed in December 2022 and January, 2023 during which suspects were arrested and arms and ammunition recovered across the geo-political zones of the country.
The service said that it was working with other relevant agencies to bring those behind the violent protest in Sagamu, Ogun State, to book.
