The Zamfara State Community Protection Guards, popularly known as Askarawan Zamfara, have arrested nine suspects allegedly linked to banditry and other criminal activities across the state.
The suspects, who were paraded in Gusau on Wednesday, included alleged bandits, informants, logistics suppliers, drug dealers and a man accused of impersonating a lawyer.
The arrests, according to the security outfit, followed intelligence driven operations conducted in different parts of the state.
The commandant of the Community Protection Guards, retired Assistant Inspector General of Police, Shehu Dalijan, disclosed this while briefing journalists during the parade.
Dalijan said information provided by some suspects already operating within various criminal camps assisted the guards in tracking and arresting members of the alleged syndicates.
One of the suspects, 20 year old Abubakar Malan Ori, reportedly admitted spending several months in the camp of a notorious bandit leader identified as Kachalla Gwaska.
The guards alleged that Ori participated in criminal activities across Zamfara, Kaduna and Niger states, as well as the Niger Republic.
According to the security outfit, the suspect also disclosed that over N226m was allegedly obtained as ransom from several kidnapping operations.
Two other suspects, identified as Mamman Haruna and Aliyu Lawali, were accused of supplying information to bandits and allegedly participating in cattle rustling and attacks carried out alongside other notorious criminal figures.
Also among those arrested was Ibrahim Mafindi Titus, whom the guards described as a suspected bandit doctor.
Titus was allegedly responsible for treating wounded members of criminal groups and reportedly obtained medical supplies from outside Nigeria for use in attending to injured suspects.
Other suspects paraded by the security outfit were accused of serving as informants, providing logistics to criminal groups and dealing in drugs.
Another suspect, Mustapha Muhammed, was accused of posing as a legal practitioner and allegedly collecting money from a detainee’s relative outside the headquarters of the Community Protection Guards.
The arrests come amid continuing efforts by security agencies and local protection outfits in Zamfara to disrupt bandit networks and their support structures across the state.
The Community Protection Guards said intelligence gathering remained crucial to identifying individuals allegedly providing information, medical assistance, logistics and other forms of support to criminal groups.