By ADAMU BEZHE
The Police Force Headquarters on Friday paraded three women, among several other suspects, including Favour Bello, a 21-year-old girl arrested at a motor park in Kano on May 29, confirming a Scudnews report published on June 3.
Scudnews had exclusively reported how Favour Bello was caught with 799 lethal NATO and AK-47 ammunition in Kano when she was about to board a vehicle from Kano to Bayelsa State.
The report had detailed how Favour was arrested at about 8.am on Friday, May 29 at U/Uku Motor Park, behind JAE Transport in Tarauni Local Government Area of Kano State, in possession of 700 General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) chained ammunition and 99 AK-47 live ammunitions.
Fresh facts have emerged that a syndicate comprising military personnel and their civilian accomplices were behind the huge consignment of ammunition found in possession of Favour, and how the syndicate had been involved in the illicit trade in ammunition since December 2019.
A top security source has given an insight on their mode of operation and how the syndicate was unveiled by operatives of a tactical squad of the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu.
“There are two military officers serving at Janguza Barracks in Kano and are involved in the military operations in Zamfara State. The ammunition found with Favour, were ammunition supplied by the authorities for the operations in Zamfara, which they are now taking out and selling. They started the illicit business in December 2019, and have their agents in Taraba, Edo and other states.
The husband of this woman in police custody and another soldier are friends and both of them are involved in the operations at Zamfara. They are part of the people taking out ammunition meant for operations in that area and selling them. Their agent in Taraba is a younger brother to a suspected member of the syndicate called Sergeant Ishaku. He is the one helping them to sell the stolen ammunition.
In the month of December, they took away ammunition and sold them. In January, 2020, they took out ammunition, a consignment comprising mainly AK-47 ammunition; we don’t know the number yet. In February, they did same and sold the ammunition in Edo State. In March, they took away another consignment which we’ve not been able to properly track the courier, but they are saying it was one Sambo that took the consignment out and sold.
In April, another consignment was taken out, I think, to Bayelsa and sold. The consignment of ammunition they took out from Zamfara in the month of May, 2020, comprised NATO ammunition which can break anything and the consignment was supposed to go to Bayelsa before it was intercepted by the police. The foster mother of Favour Bello was married to an army officer from Bayelsa, but resident at the Janguza barracks in Kano where the man died. Because she is schooling in Kano, she decided to go and stay with the woman in police custody whose husband is a lance corporal at the barracks because they are all from Bayelsa State.
There is a lot of information we’ve not been able to get because it is very difficult to bring out a suspect in a military barracks, and if only we could get the civilian agent in Taraba, we would have a lot of revelations. Presently, we have only three suspects in connection with this case, including a woman Favour claimed to be her mother, who was married to a man from Niger State; we picked her up in Bayelsa State. The two others are Favour and her foster mother. So, unless the soldiers involved in the military operations in Zamfara are handed over to the police, we have a lot of information that is stalled.
But we have record that the illicit trade in ammunition from the military operations in Zamfara had been going on since December, 2019. The consignment that was intercepted in May was brought by the Lance Corporal from Zamfara to the Janguza barracks in Kano and handed over to his wife who took it on a bike to the motor park when Favour was about boarding a vehicle to Bayelsa. It was when loaders at the motor park were bringing down the bag of rice from the motorbike to be loaded on the vehicle that they discovered it contained lethal ammunition. This is a matter bordering on national security and unless the military authorities cooperate in this regard, this dangerous trade will thrive”.
To be sure, an interesting scenario will play out in the days ahead as the police dig deep into the activities of the arms syndicate. Below is the breaking news report on Favour’s arrest published on June 3 by Scudnews.
SHOCKER!
21-Year-Old Girl Caught With 799 Machine Gun, AK-47 Ammunition
…on mission to Bayelsa
By ADAMU BEZHE
The police in Kano made a shocking recovery on Friday, May 29, when a team of operatives of an anti-crime unit codenamed Operation Puff Adder, arrested a 21-year-old girl with a large quantity of sophisticated and deadly ammunition in the early hours of the day.
Ms Favour Bello, whose address could not be ascertained at the time of filing this report, was allegedly tracked by the eagle-eyed cops on her way to Bayelsa State for an undisclosed mission.
Scudnews learnt that she was arrested at about 8.am at U/Uku Motor Park, behind JAE Transport in Tarauni Local Government Area of Kano State, in possession of 700 General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) chained ammunition and 99 AK-47 live ammunitions.
Sources said the items were concealed in a bag of rice and were being conveyed to Bayelsa State. It was further gathered that upon interrogation, the suspect reportedly claimed to have gotten the weapons of death from the Janguza Barracks in Kano.
A senior police officer who does not want to be identified, said detectives at the Criminal Investigation Department of the Kano State police command had begun investigations to ascertain whether Favour belonged to a gunrunning syndicate and her accomplices.
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