Oyo State Police Command on Thursday revealed that it has mopped up arms and ammunition totaling 178 and 840 respectively in tandem with the directive of the Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris.
The state Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Odude, while displaying the prohibited items at the state police headquarters noted that the IGP had directed that all Nigerians in possession of firearms should give it to the police.
According to him, some of the prohibited items were seized from bandits, while others were surrendered by some people who were not licensed to carry arms.
“In total compliance with that directive therefore, the Oyo State Police Command embarked on aggressive mop-up and recovery of the aforesaid arms including ammunition.
“The exercise, though ongoing, has been very successful as a cache of such arms and ammunition was recovered from different parts of the state within a short period. Some of the arms were recovered during a mop-up exercise while others were recovered from armed bandits,” he said.
Giving the breakdown, he added that arms recovered during mop-up exercise were 29; arms recovered from armed bandits were 149; while total ammunition were 709.
He gave the total of arms as 178 and ammunition as 840.
The CP also hinted that five more suspects had been arrested in connection with kidnapping and armed robbery in Igbeti, Igboho and other parts of Oke Ogun area of the state.
He assured that the command would not r3st on its oars until the affected places and other parts of the state were completely rid of armed bandits.
“In our quest to achieve this objective, we fervently solicit the unflinching support of the public and other sister agencies,” he said.
