By JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
Sequel to its sustained onslaught against armed banditry and other criminal elements in the state, operatives of the Special Tactical Squad Force Headquarters, Abuja, and Operation Yaki of the Kaduna State Command intercepted suspects along Saminaka – Jos expressway in a vehicle driven by one James Dawi, 31.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Muhammed Jalige, and made available to newsmen in Kaduna on Thursday.
The suspected bandits, on sensing an unavoidable danger before delivering some dangerous weapons to their cohorts, immediately engaged the operatives in a fierce gun duel.
However, the operatives with tactical precision were able to terminally injure four outlaws while others retreated into the forest with severe bullet wounds.
The injured suspects were evacuated to Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital Kaduna where they were pronounced dead by a medical doctor on call.
When search was conducted in the vehicle and around the vicinity, the following exhibits were recovered: one AK47 rifle loaded with six rounds of live ammunition, AK47 rifle, one empty magazine, one hundred and thirty four rounds of different calibers of live ammunition and one operational motor vehicle.
The operation led to the arrest of a female accomplice who, during the course of investigation, confessed to be supplying arms and ammunition to bandits within Kaduna State.
Meanwhile, discreet investigation into the case has been instituted with a view to unravelling the identities of other criminal members of the gang, as well as finding the source of the dangerous weapons.
The Commissioner of Police, Yekini A. Ayoku, has therefore applauded this clinically executed intelligence-led tactical operation that has occasioned this breakthrough while assured the public that the command in the fight against insecurity.