Fidelis Mac-Leva
10 June 2009
Four suspected female arms dealers who belong to a syndicate that specialises in supplying arms to armed robbers in different parts of the country, especially in the North-east have been declared wanted by the Taraba State Police command.
Taraba Police Commissioner, Aliyu Musa, who made this known to Daily Trust in Jalingo yesterday gave the names of the suspects as Awotu, Akudi, Abanyi and Akwen.
He said all of them belong to the same family and hail from Wukari Local Government Area of the state. According to Musa, the leader of the arms syndicate is Awotu [surname] withheld while the remaining three: Akudi, Abanyi and Akwen are her daughters who supply arms to criminals in different parts of the country.
The declaration of the four by the Police followed the recent arrest of a suspected member of the syndicate, Mohammed Abubakar, in Gassol area of the state, the Commissioner explained.
Abubakar who was arrested with a large cache arms and ammunition, including machine guns, was said to have made confessional statements that implicated the four females who he said belong to the same family with Abubakar. Abubakar was subsequently charged before a Jalingo High Court where he is currently standing trial.
Efforts by the Taraba State Police command to arrest the four have proved difficult as they were said to have run into neighbouring Chad republic.
The Commissioner said the four female suspects have been placed on their wanted list, adding that as soon as they resurface in Taraba State they would be arrested.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2009 Daily Trust. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
I have always had suspecion that all the arms used to commit various crimes in Nigeria comes from the Northern Nigeria,Number one their main proffession is to become soldiers and carry lots of guns,now there has been rash of crimes from criminals ranging from kidnapping to armed roberry and Niger delta standoff.All the illegal arms were being supllied from the Northern Nigeria.I am really afraid of terrorism also originating from Muslim extremist from the North Nigeria.May God and Allah continue to bless us all