Operatives of the Zamfara Police Command have recovered a rocket launcher and a locally fabricated gun during a “heavily engaged gun duel between the police and some hoodlums.”

Spokesperson of the Command, Mohammed Shehu, in a statement said the rocket launcher and the gun were recovered after the gun battle “at some locations under Gummi, Bukkuyum and Maru.”

“On 8th January, 2022, police tactical operatives led by the commanding officer 42 PMF Squadron Gusau, while on extensive bush combing at some locations under Gummi, Bukkuyum and Maru local government areas were heavily engaged in a gun duel by some suspected hoodlums”, he said.

Shehu said the bandits were forced to retreat into the bush with wounds, leaving the rocket launcher and the gun.

He also said the command has a very effective working synergy with other security agencies in the ongoing operations against criminal elements in the state.

He said, “To corroborate my statement, apart from the joint operations in the hinterlands and patrols within cities and towns in Zamfara, on 7th January, 2022, military operatives deployed along Dansadau Road in Maru local government area intercepted and rescued 17 kidnapped victims who were abducted on 14th December, 2021 in Wamba Village of Mariga local government area of Niger State.

“The 17 rescued victims were handed over to the command by the Brigade Commander 1 Brigade Nigerian Army, Gusau, where they were medically checked, debriefed by the police and handed over to the commissioner of police Niger State Command who would reunite the victims with their families.”

The police also arrested four suspects in connection with culpable homicide, conspiracy, cannibalism and dealing with human parts in Gusau, the state capital.

The suspects are Aminu Baba, Abdulshakur Muhammad, Abdullahi Buba and Ahmad Tukur. The exhibits found in their possession include intestine, oesophagus, penis and two eyes.

“During interrogation, one of the suspects said he was contracted to source for human parts at the sum of N500,000 which he did before his arrest.

“The buyer of human parts, one Aminu Baba, who has 19 children, confessed to the crime and his revelations are assisting police investigation in arresting other members of his gang. He further confessed that he usually eats the human parts and identified the throat as the most delicious part. He also sells some away”, Shehu added.

Other suspects paraded were a Nigerien national, Aisha Ibrahim, who was accused of stealing her co wife’s two-year old child with the intent of selling him, and three persons, Usama Usman, Saifullahi Aminu and Zainab Aliyu, suspected of vandalising and removing copper wire valued at N700,000 in Tsafe Local Government Area.