Police recover N42m from Niger suspected kidnappers

The Niger State Police Command on Thursday said it had recovered over N42m.2m cash from suspected kidnappers in Kontagora Local Government Area.

It added that the sum represented the ransom collected from families of kidnap victims in neigbouring Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara states.

Commissioner of Police in the state, Olusola Amore, made the disclosure while addressing journalists in Minna on the activities of the command from January to June, 2015.

Amore said a comparative analysis of major crime statistics for the first and second quarters of the year, showed that kidnapping increased slightly while other crimes reduced drastically.

The police commissioner said the N42.2m recovered from fleeing kidnappers in Kontagora had been transferred to the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Abuja for discreet investigation.

He noted that within the period under review, 1,091 persons were arrested in 785 cases reported while 666 persons were convicted and 251 persons are awaiting trial.

Amore added that 56 cases were under investigation while property, worth N22.4m were recovered.

The CP explained that the command carried out 456 raids, where 933 persons were arrested while 305 people were screened.

It also said it recovered 399 exhibits; 539 charged to court, out of which 342 persons were convicted, while 181 persons were awaiting trial.

According to him, the command is confronted with inadequate logistics, paucity of funds and insufficient manpower to carry out it responsibilities, urging governments at every level and individuals to come to the aid of Nigerian police for maximum results.

Police recover N42m from Niger suspected kidnappers