Ahead of the general election, the Nigeria Police Force, on Thursday, handed over a total of 6,338 illegal arms and ammunition recovered from criminals and non-state actors across the country to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons domiciled in the Office of the National Security Adviser.
The handing over ceremony was held at Louis Edet House, Force Headquarters, Abuja.
The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, represented by Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Danmallam, supervised the handing over of the 3,980 arms of different calibres, 2,358 assorted calibres of ammunition, and 1,057 assorted cartridges to the NCCSALW on Thursday.
The handed over arms included 265 automatic rifles, 146 pump-action guns, 1,909 locally-fabricated pistols, 1,500 locally-made single-barrel guns, 98 locally-made double-barrel guns, 46 general purpose machine guns, 16 locally-made rocket launchers, two locally-made anti-aircraft guns, and seven rocket-propelled grenades.
The arms and ammunition, according to the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, were majorly recovered from armed criminals and other non-state actors in Owerri, Imo State, Jos, Plateau State, Sokoto and Bauchi states.
The National Coordinator, NCCSALW, Maj. Gen. A.M. Dikko (retd.), noted that some of the ammunition would be given back to the police to strengthen its capacity to protect citizens.
