The Nigeria Police Force says it has arrested 129 suspected terror operatives in coordinated operations across Kogi and Kwara states, as part of renewed efforts to tackle insecurity in the North-Central region.
Force Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, disclosed this on Tuesday during a live appearance on Channels Television’s “Politics Today.”
According to Hundeyin, the operations also led to the neutralisation of at least 55 terror suspects in armed confrontations with the police, while 309 hostages were successfully rescued.
“I can confirm that 129 terrorists were arrested and 55 neutralised in Kogi and Kwara, while 309 hostages were rescued during recent operations against criminals,” he said.
Addressing concerns over the circumstances of the fatalities, Hundeyin stressed that the suspects were not victims of extrajudicial action but were killed in active gunfights after resisting arrest.
“The ones neutralised fell in the line of firefight. Some might be quick to label that as extrajudicial, so I have to make it clear: firefight,” he explained.
He added that some of the suspects engaged security operatives despite seeing that several of their associates had already been apprehended.
“These were people who were not ready to give up even after their colleagues were arrested. They chose to fight to the end,” he said.
The police spokesman emphasised that the operations are part of broader coordinated security measures aimed at weakening criminal networks across the North-Central corridor.
