Navy arrests 2 cattle rustlers, recovers 295 livestock

FILE PHOTO: a herd of cows

The Commandant, Nigerian Navy School of Armament Technology, Kachia, Kaduna, Commodore Timothy Dakwat, has said that the command arrested two cattle rustlers and recovered 285 cows and seven sheep from them.

Dakwat made this known when he presented the suspects and the cows to newsmen in Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State on Sunday.

He said the suspects were arrested on Oct. 29, at about 1.00 a.m., following an intelligence report on the hide out of the rustlers.

“Acting on a tip off on their hideout at Maro, Gidana Auta and Rijana village, in Kachia Local government, we mobilised our patrol team and ambushed the rustlers which led to the arrest, recovery and evacuation of the cows.”

He said there was exchange of fire between the security operatives and the rustlers before the security officers overpowered the bandits.

Dakwat, who said nobody died in the incident, stated that one of the suspects sustained injury and was taken to the hospital.

“One of the main kingpins is still at large but we will trail him and make sure that he faces the law,” he added.

He said working closely with communities in a manner called civil-military relations had yielded results.

“Those communities had been under the spell of those cattle rustlers as they dehumanised them, raped women, extorted them and stole their animals.”

Dakwat said “with the government on our side and support of the communities we will be able to serve the society better.

“We assured members of the pubic that our source of information will be well protected to ensure that we achieve success.”

The commandant said the arrest of the rustlers was the collective effort of the security operatives under the Kaduna State Government-coordinated security outfit, code-named “Operation Yaki”.

He said the suspects, the cows and sheep would be handed over to the appropriate authority after investigation.

The commandant urged the public to support the security agents with useful information to curtail the activities of undesirable elements in the state.