Officers of the Niger State command of the Nigerian Police force have reportedly apprehended twenty (20) suspected criminals after they carried out a raid in criminal hideouts across Suleja.
Suleja local government in Niger state shares border with the Federal Capital Territory and is a transit point for residents of the FCT and Kaduna State.
The police explained that the Saturday night raid and extended into Sunday morning was aimed at quashing rising rate of criminality in Suleja and its environment.
The suspects who could not explain their mission to the blackspots at the time of arrest were said to be bearing machetes, wraps of substances suspected to be cannabis, sachets of tramadol, other illicit drugs, such as bottles of codeine, and Bajaj motorcycles.
Wasiu Abiodun, the spokesperson of the Niger State Police Command confirmed the arrest of the suspects and their subsequent transfer to the Suleja Area Command for further investigations and prosecution.
Abiodun narrated: “On 14th June, 2025 from about 9pm till the early hours of 15th June 2025, the DPO Maje Div led a raid operation with the patrol teams of Suleja area to some identified blackspots and hideouts within his area of responsibility and 20 miscreants were arrested at different locations with illicit drugs.
“The suspects are: Bello Habu, 18yrs; Mohammed Idris, 22yrs; Michael Aitesebaomo, 33yrs; Baba Dan’audu, 20yrs; Abdulsalam Yusuf, 19yrs; Emmanuel Samuel, 34yrs; and Williams John, 20yrs.
“Others are: Abdul Kabiru, 18yrs; Abdullahi Babaiya Moh’d, 28yrs; Samaila Musa, 21yrs; Lukman Musa, 23yrs; Micheal Peter, 21yrs; Valentine Arinze, 23yrs; Magaji Haruna, 25yrs; and Umar Abdullahi, 27yrs.
“The remaining suspects are: Mohammed Bala, 24yrs; Salisu Abubakar, 23yrs; Kabir Tukur, 26yrs; Abdullahi Jamilu, 23yrs; and Salisu Abdullahi, 28yrs; all of Kaduna road, Dikko junction, Hayin-Kaduna and Gauraka areas of Suleja.
“The suspects were arrested with three machetes, 134 wraps of substances suspected to be cannabis, 24 sachets of tramadol, 264 other illicit drugs, bottles of codeine, and two Bajaj motorcycles.
“All the suspects could not give satisfactory account of themselves at the time of the arrest, and they were transferred to Suleja Area Command for further investigation and prosecution,” Abiodun said.
