The Niger State Police Command has confirmed the arrest and detention of four dismissed soldiers over the alleged killing of an operative of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency in Minna, the state capital.
This was disclosed by the command’s public relation officer, SP Wasiu Abiodun, in a statement on Friday, May 24, 2024.
According to the statement, “On 09/03/2024 at about 1820hrs, a team of NDLEA officers were on stop and search at Ramat Junction, Bida while two Suspected soldiers who were not on uniform, on a motorcyclebgot to the point and they were intercepted by the NDLEA team.
The team requested for identification, but the suspected soldiers could not establish a proper means of identification, and their bag was searched but nothing incriminating was found.
In the course of this, there was an arqument and altercation, and after the search, the suspected soldiers left the scene and returned with an additional men reinforced to the scene for an alleged attack.
Unfortunately during the fight, an officer of the NDLEA named Kingsley Chimetalo was stabbed at the back with a Jack-knife by one of the suspects and his rifle was taken away.
The injured officer was taken to FMC Bida where he later gave up the ghost and confirmed dead. In the course of the investigation by the Police operatives attached to A’ Division Bida, the officer’s rifle was later recovered in a nearby bush where it was dumped without a magazine.
During the painstaking investigation in collaboration with 18 Brigade, Nigeria Army Bida, six soldiers were later identified, court martialed and dismissed, while two escaped.
The four suspects are: Sani Munzani 24yrs of Kano State, Abubakar Auwalu 26yrs of Kano State, Abubakar Sani 23yrs of Kebbi State, Muazu Hassan 22yrs of Edo State
The four suspects were handed over to the Police on 20/05/2024 for prosecution, while Sani Munzani confessed to the stabbing of the deceased.”
