Niger Police Command says it has recovered 567 ammunition from three suspected gun runners arrested in the state.

The Command said that two of the suspects, 32-year-old Muhammadu Bello and 30-year-old Nura Umar, were arrested by the Police Safer Highway patrol team during a routine patrol along the Makera-Mokwa road.

“The two suspects refused to stop for the routine check, making the Police team chase them to Sabon Makera village where they abandoned their vehicles and continued running, but were arrested with the help of the community.

“During the search of the vehicle, the Police found two AK-47 rifles, two AK-49 rifles, 16 magazines, 417 live ammunition of 7.63 calibres and 150 RPG live ammunition.

“The third suspect, 25-year-old Habib Sani, was arrested at Swashi village while trying to transport 14 locally fabricated rifles from Kanti village in Mashegu Local Government Area to Guffanti in New Bussa LGA, all in Niger State,” the Commissioner of Police, Monday Kuryas, said while parading the suspects.

Kuryas added that the 14 locally fabricated guns comprised of six double-barrel and eight triple barrel guns, concealed in a sack.

“The first two suspects confessed to the crime, saying that they were taking the arms from Sokoto to someone called Yellow in Mokwa.

“Sani confessed that the guns were given to him by a local fabricator called Bilya to deliver to one Bulus of Guffanti village, adding that he was offered a commission of N1,000 on each gun if he delivered them successfully,” Kuryas said.

The Police commissioner added that effort is still going on to apprehend Bilya and Bulus who are currently at large.

He, however, disclosed that the cases are under investigation and that the suspects would be arraigned in court for prosecution as soon as the investigation is concluded.