The Kaduna State Police Command has arrested 25 people for alleged thuggery as part of a new effort by the recently formed Anti-Social Vice Unit to reduce crime.
According to police spokesman ASP Mansir Hassan, the unit is working with other police divisions to improve peace and security in the state.
Hassan disclosed that since commencing operations, the unit has been handling cases of thuggery, phone snatching, drug offences, and possession of dangerous weapons.
The statement quoted the State Commissioner of Police, Audu Ali Dabigi, instructing officers to keep the state safe by preventing criminal activities. He also advised parents to caution their children against criminal behaviour.
The statement partly reads:
“Owing to an upsurge in thuggery (sara-suka), phone and female handbags snatching and drug-related offences among youths in Kaduna, the Commissioner of Police Kaduna State Command CP A.D. Ali, psc has established a new outfit with the task of clamping down on all acts of social vices in the State.
“The unit, which is referred to as the Anti Vice Unit, has since started operating and will be liaising with all the Divisions to diligently handle all cases of thuggery, phone snatching, drug and illicit substances consumption and peddling, possessing dangerous weapons, etc.
“Consequently, no fewer than 25 persons have been arrested across the metropolis about the aforesaid offences with 16 among them arrested within Rigasa axis and charged for thuggery (sara-suka) and had dangerous weapons.
“The Commissioner of Police Kaduna, thus, charged the new outfit to make Kaduna State, especially the metropolis, safe for the populace by continuously denying these urchins any operating space. He equally called on parents and guardians to warn their wards to desist from any act of delinquency.”