The Police Command in Yobe says four suspects have been arrested for alleged child rape, assault on a police officer, and illegal possession of firearms.
SP Dungus Abdulkarim, the Police Public Relations Officer, disclosed this in a statement issued in Damaturu on Saturday.
He said that operatives of the Nguru Divisional Police Headquarters arrested two suspects, Jarma Hussaini Adam, 25, and Mohammed Abdusalam (popularly known as Uzaifa), 16, both of Sabon Garin Kanuri in Nguru Local Government Area.
He explained that the suspects allegedly attacked Cpl. Amani Ali on guard duty at the Federal Medical Centre, Nguru, on Sept. 26 at about 1900hrs.
According to him, the officer was found unconscious and bleeding, with his rifle carted away before the police launched a tactical operation that led to the recovery of the weapon, magazines, and a knife jacket used in the attack.
“The injured officer is currently recuperating, while the suspects are in custody,” he said.
Abdulkarim described the incident as an affront on the Nigeria Police Force, stressing that the command would treat such attacks not only as criminal acts but also as an attack on constituted authority.
In another development, he said, personnel of ‘A’ Division Police Headquarters, Damaturu, on Sept. 22, arrested a suspected armed herder, Ibrahim Alhaji Ahmadu, 24, of Dusuwa Village, Kalallawa area of Damaturu.
He said that the suspect was apprehended following a distress call from a farmer who reported that a herder trespassed on his farm and allegedly threatened him with a gun.
He said that a shotgun and live ammunition were recovered from the suspect.
Similarly, Abdulkarim said that Potiskum Division operatives arrested Dahiru Ali, 19, of Hayin Kwari for allegedly defiling a three-year-old girl in the Mutawassada area of Potiskum.
“Further investigation revealed that the suspect had earlier committed a similar offence against another three-year-old girl in the same neighbourhood. He confessed to the crime,” he said.
Abdulkarim said that the Commissioner of Police, CP Emmanuel Ado, condemned the acts and reiterated the command’s zero-tolerance stance on criminality.
He said that the commissioner urged parents and guardians to monitor their children closely and appealed to residents to support the police with timely information.