A major breakthrough in the fight against crime was said to have been recorded in Taraba State as police operatives arrested a notorious criminal and recovered a cache of arms, including a rifle previously stolen from the command.
According to a statement released by the Taraba State Police Command, on Saturday, acting on credible intelligence, operatives from the State Intelligence Department (SID), in collaboration with a local vigilante group, were said to have apprehended 40-year-old Umar Ahmad at a roadblock in Jalingo.
According to the statement signed by the command spokesperson, James Leshen, the suspect, from London Maidoro, Gombe State, had reportedly been on the police radar for several months.
“Following his arrest at approximately 11:00 a.m. on April 18, 2025, Ahmad led investigators to Mayo Faran village in Mayo Belwa LGA, a border community between Taraba and Adamawa states where a search uncovered two AK-47 rifles with serial numbers 1985 PT2021 and 08893, eight magazines, and thirty-nine live rounds of ammunition,” the statement read.
Further investigation, as made known by the command, revealed that one of the recovered rifles, with serial number 08893, was identified as property of the Taraba State Police Command.
The weapon was among those stolen during a deadly ambush in 2023, in which suspected kidnappers attacked a police anti-kidnapping unit attempting to rescue Alhaji Buba Nyala, a second-class chief of Popule village in Yorro LGA.
The ambush resulted in the death of ASP Aminu Nuhu, and the rifle was taken during the incident.
Hailing the operatives for their swift and decisive action, the Commissioner of Police, Emmanuel Simon Bretet, reaffirmed the Command’s commitment to making Taraba State inhabitable to criminals.
