AK-47 Factory Uncovered in Plateau – Police
The police in Plateau State’s Jos South Local Government Area discovered an AK-47 production plant.
Two people were paraded as the factory’s perpetrators.
The police also paraded 79 individuals suspected of being kidnappers, bandits, armed robbers, gun runners, and manufacturers of phony license plates.
Mr. Christopher Dega, a retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) who served as Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom’s security adviser, was traced to a café in Jos, Plateau State, where he was assassinated, according to the police.
Joe Michael and Iliya Bulus were identified as the weapon fabricators.
The individuals were apprehended by agents from the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and the Special Tactical Squad (STS) in various locations around the country, according to Force spokesman Frank Mba.
Mba, a police commissioner, is concerned that the locally manufactured AK-47 is quickly becoming the weapon of choice for criminals. He believes the development poses a serious threat to the country’s security.
Mba praised the Jos-made Ak-47 as a masterpiece that would require professional expertise to distinguish from European-made counterparts.
He said during the raid on the factory, 20 pieces of the gun were recovered by the operatives, who for a long time, were on the trail of the suspects.
The spokesman said: “If you look at these weapons locally-fabricated by the suspects, there is no difference from others imported. Unless you are trained, you will not be able to spot the difference. They use the same magazines.
“We will follow up to track down those behind this, we will continue to deepen our intelligence, and continue to work with other sister security agencies to check the proliferation of illegal arms in the country.”
One of the fabricators, Michael, who attended a technical institution in Jos, told reporters that in the last three years, he had built roughly 180 units, which he sold for N80,000 each.
The suspect also claimed to have learned the talent from his late boss, whom he identified only as James.
Three of the 79 other defendants were exhibited for allegedly mass-producing and distributing special false number plates similar to those used by the White House and international embassies.
STS investigators nabbed the bogus number plate producers in Ikorodu, Lagos State, according to Mba. They had a total of 80 bogus number plates retrieved from them.
The Force spokesman said investigations had shown that the syndicate was being patronised by people of shady characters.
“These shady characters get those specialised number Plates and fix them on their vehicles to beat security checks and to enjoy unmerited privileges in the society,” Mba added.
He added that the police were in possession of the full list of persons with such fake number plates.
Members of a four-man kidnapping ring who allegedly abducted a university professor, Prof. Aliyu Mohammed, in Zaria, Kaduna State, were also paraded.
According to Mba, the suspects were apprehended near the scene of a recent kidnapping of a Catholic priest in Kaduna State.
A student at the University of Jos in Plateau State was also exposed for masterminding the murder of a friend who had given him a loan of N500, 000 for his wedding.
Among the displayed individuals was a trans-border gun smuggler known as “Baba Busy.” With a GPMG chain drive gun and 1,600 live rounds, he was apprehended near the Nigerian border.
