The Zamfara State Police Command has arrested high-profile persons including a member of the State House of Assembly, and a former local government chairman in connection with banditry in the state.

Commissioner of Police in Zamfara State, Muhammad Dalijan, revealed this while hosting the officer in charge of the Counterterrorism Unit, under the United Nations Office On Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Thomas Parker, at the command headquarters in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital.

He did not mention the names of the high-profile persons arrested in connection with the crime.

CP Dalijan also appealed to the United Nations, to help establish a forensic laboratory to address the challenge of going to Lagos to conduct forensic analysis.

Dalijan, while hosting Parker, urged the UN to replicate in Zamfara what they did in Maiduguri, and sought the global body’s assistance for training on investigation, and establishment of forensic laboratories, to accelerate the investigation and prosecution of suspected criminals.

He, however, noted that crime rates have reduced in Zamfara, due to the ongoing efforts of security agencies in collaboration with Community Protection Guards (CPGs), to flush out the suspected terrorists who migrated from Maiduguri to Zamfara State in Northwest Nigeria.

Reacting, Parker said they were in Zamfara State on the appeal that Governor Dauda Lawal had made to the UN, to assist the state in tackling the insecurity surrounding it.

Parker who visited the police command to gather more information about the existential threats in the state, informed the police of UN’s readiness, to conduct an assessment of the security situation, first to understand the causes and challenges, and how to help deal with the threats.

To that end, the UNDOC team has since embarked on a three-day stakeholders’ engagement in the state, to understand the scope, the widespread challenges, and major drivers of the insecurity confronting the state, and how best it can provide support in addressing the menace. (Channels TV)