At least 28 suspected criminals, including kidnappers, bandits, and cultists have been arrested in the past seven days from different locations of Kogi State, the authorities have announced.
The criminals were arrested by the Joint Task Force of State Vigilante Service and the Neighbourhood Watch, which handed them over to the Police.
Among those arrested were four dreaded kidnappers who confessed to having been terrorising the people of Dekina and Bassa local government areas In Kogi state on April 6.
Also, over 16 members of a cult group who confessed to being from Ankpa Local Government Area of the state were arrested in Olamaboro Local Government Area where they were carrying out the initiation of new members.
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The cult group also confessed to have carried out several armed robbery operations on Ankpa-Okpo-Otukpa road, according to the leaders.
In a related development, an 8-man gang of miscreants who were involved in destabilising the peace around Anyigba and Egume areas of Dekina Local Government Area, Kogi state was also apprehended by the security agencies when they led masquerades into a mosque during Islamic congregational prayers.
Leaders of the Security Groups, Usman Okoliko, the Chairman of Vigilante in Imane, and Iliyasu Abubakar, Chairman of the Neighbourhood watch handed the suspected criminals over to the Police at Okpo Division. In their separate remarks, they disclosed that the activities of the group had gone beyond cultism as they were engaged in armed robbery, kidnapping and other criminal activities in the areas.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor Yahaya Bello, Dekina Local Government Area, Ishaq Shaibu, described the criminals as miscreants who were bent on creating trouble in the local government area, warning that whoever was found to be involved in any criminal activity would face the full wrath of the law.
Shaibu urged parents and guardians to report their wards who they knew were into any form of criminal activity, pointing out that Governor Bello had ordered that any parent who comes forward in defence of any criminal should be treated as one.
He declared that those arrested would be charged to court for prosecution according to the criminal laws.
