The police declared on Monday that they have arrested four suspects and neutralised two in connection with the October 23 deadly bank robbery in Otukpo, Benue State.

The Inspector-General of Police, IGP, Olukayode Egbetokun, said this in Abuja at a meeting with Strategic Police Managers, consisting of officers from the rank of Commissioner of Police.

“You will recall the deadly Otukpo bank robbery of October 23, during which the Otukpo Divisional Police Officers, DPO, and many other innocent Nigerians lost their lives.

“A huge sum of money was carted away from the three commercial banks that were robbed during the operation,” he said.

The IGP said the unrelenting efforts of police personnel, acting on both human and technically-generated intelligence, eventually paid off.

He said the armed robbers were traced to their hideout, where two of them were neutralised and four others arrested.

Egbetokun said the four suspects are currently in the custody of the Nigeria Police and are assisting in the investigation to track other fleeing members of the gang.

Egbetokun said nine AK-47 rifles and 4,013 rounds of live ammunition were recovered from the suspects.

He said police operatives, during a covert rescue operation carried out in Rivers and Katsina States on December 14 and 15, rescued 23 kidnapped victims.

Egbetokun said the victims rescued included students of the Federal University, Dutsinma, in Katsina, adding that two notorious bandits were killed during the operation.

He said the Nigeria Police had, in the last 10 weeks, recorded significant successes in reducing crime rate across the country.

According to him, this was attained through a combination of efforts involving intelligence-led operations, community engagements, and proactive policing.