Police in Yobe State, northeastern Nigeria, said a total of 318 suspected criminals were arrested in the fourth quarter of 2020 in the state.
Dungus Abdulkarim, Yobe State Police spokesman, made this known in a statement on Sunday in which he detailed the achievements recorded in the state by the police last year.
Yobe is one of the states in Northeastern Nigeria under severe and incessant attacks by the Boko Haram terrorist group.
But the police did not indicate in the statement how many of the arrested suspects were members of the terror group.
According to the police, the suspected criminals were arrested for offences ranging from homicide, rape, kidnapping, theft, armed robbery.
Others were involved in farmers and herdsmen clashes.
Abdulkarim said 250 of the suspects had been arraigned before various courts in the state, adding that 187 suspects were standing trial.
He added that 68 suspects had undergone various stages of investigations while 63 others were convicted and sentenced to various jail terms.
Case files of 39 suspects had been moved to the state Director of Public Prosecution for legal advice, the police spokesman said.
News Agency of Nigeria reported that he further disclosed that within the period under review, the command recovered two Ak-47 rifles, two Dane guns, one locally-made pistol, one single barrel short-gun, and 47 rounds of 9.64mm ammunition.
Other items recovered, Abdulkarim said, include 138 mobile phones, one cow, 25 memory cards, three MP3 players, one laptop computer, one printer, and 25 forged and fake documents.
He explained that the success recorded was made possible due to the commitment and dedication of personnel who implemented inclusive and proactive policing strategies.
“Such strategies include regular community engagements and cooperation from local vigilante groups in anti-crime patrols,’’ he said.
Abdul Karim appealed to the general public to always feed the Police with vital information for crime prevention and management.
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