STF arrests 80, recovered over 70 weapons, 2,000 ammunitions
The Special Task Force in Plateau otherwise known as Operation Safe Haven (OPSH), MONDAY said it has arrested over 80 suspects in connection with different offences within the State and has displayed over 70 (seventy), different types of locally fabricated weapons as well as over 2,000 rounds of ammunitions recovered from hoodlums in various parts of Plateau communities in the out gone year between October and December 2017.
The OPSH also in charge of restoring peace in some parts of Bauchi State and Southern Kaduna said the suspects were arrested by members of the taskforce in their efforts to mop up arms in the hands of civilians.
Speaking with newsmen in Jos, at the task-force headquarters the Commander, Major General Anthony Atolagbe informed that most of the hoodlums have been profiled and handed over to the Police for further interrogation and prosecution.
General Atolagbe said, “to get this number of weapons in three months just tells you that we still have a lot of work to do: we are however working with government to have some sort of control especially as it relates to some of these locally fabricated weapons:
we are also trying to encourage those who have these weapons to come and submit them, by way of disarming them and perhaps a kind of carrot and stick approach: in the very last arrest we made, four weapons were found just under the bed of one individual; this calls for serious concern.
“Where there are arms and ammunitions illegally kept please let us know so we can handle it and reduce the proliferation of small arms in the society; this menace is happening in every part of Plateau and we urge those who are in possession of these arms to submit them to the STF”.
The STF boss said the taskforce had discovered that some areas within the state had the capacity to fabricate weapons, hence security agents had been monitoring the activities of the local blacksmiths to ensure that they did not manufacture local weapons and any blacksmiths caught will definitely face the full wrath of the law.”
By Kingsley Chukwuka Jos
