Police recover 3,980 arms

 

As the 2023 general elections approach, the Nigeria Police yesterday, disclosed that 3,980 arms of different calibers were recovered in different parts of the country , as part of plans to checkmate the  proliferation of illegal arms.

 

The recovered arms included  : 265 automatic rifles; 146 pump action guns; 1,909 locally fabricated pistols , 1,500 locally made single barrel guns and  98 locally made double barrel guns.

 Others were : 46 General Purpose Machine Guns, GPMGs, 16 locally made rocket launchers, two locally made Anti-Aircraft  guns  and seven  Rocket Propelled Grenades.

 In addition were  2,358 assorted calibres of ammunition and 1,057 assorted cartridges.

Over  300 were recovered in Lagos alone.

 They were handed over to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, NCCSALW under the supervision of the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Alkali Baba, in Abuja.

 

The IGP explained  that the exercise was part of the efforts of the Nigeria Police Force, as a lead agency in internal security management, to curb the threat of the proliferation of illegal Small Arms and Light Weapons  trafficking within the country.

 

He  further  stated that the Nigeria Police Force under his leadership “has  been evaluating and re-evaluating its operational strategies while strengthening institutional capacity in relation to the generation of actionable intelligence and the conduct of special operations directed at proactively checkmating the menace of arms proliferation".

He therefore, directed Commissioners of Police in- charge of State Police Commands and their supervisory Assistant Inspectors-General of Police, including Heads of Tactical Units of the Force, to aggressively sustain the mop-up exercise in order to actualize the mandate of the Federal Government on the proliferation of small arms and light weapons.

 

He also  re-affirmed that the Police under his watch  would  continue to partner with the NCCSALW,   to achieve the mandate of the Federal Government on the control of the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the country.