By Suleiman Yakubu

Police operatives attached to Tafa Division of the Niger State Police Command have arrested three armed robbery suspects while on routine patrol around Lolo layout of Dakwa Area of Tafa Local Government of the state.
Niger State police command spokesperson FSP Wasiu Abidoun, who disclosed this in a press release issued and signed by him and obtained by Newsline today, said that the police had responded to a distress call of an attempted robbery on the street in the area and swung into action from where they arrested the suspects.
He said that the robbery suspects, however, on sighting the police, took to their heels as they were pursued and trailed to a tea seller Kiosk around the NATO Garage in Deidei, Abuja, where they were arrested.
The suspects, according to the press release, were Suleman Yahaya, 21 years old; Umar Suleiman, 25 years old; and Khalifa Abdulraham, 18 years old, all of Deidei, Abuja.
The suspects, according to him, had during interrogation by the police, confessed to be members of a robbery syndicate terrorising Dakwa, Deidei and its environs.
The three arrested suspects, however, mentioned three other members of their gang who were at large at the time of their arrest.
They are Hassan Lamar and Bakano. A search was conducted in the kiosk, and the following items were recovered from them: one double-barreled gun, one pump-action gun, one locally fabricated gun, 248 wraps of substance suspected to be Indian Hemp, one cutlass, one knife, and three scissors.
The suspects were to be transferred to SCID for further investigation, and they will be charged to court for prosecution on completion of the investigation of the matter.

By Suleiman Yakubu

The Niger State government has said it has opened talks with private airline operators with a view to commencing commercial flight operations in the state.
The Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, disclosed this when he inspected the ongoing reconstruction of runway and terminal projects at the airport.
He expressed concern over the slow pace of work on the terminal and said the state government might take over the project for immediate completion.
He said once the terminal repairs are completed, it will set the ball rolling for the state to commence commercial flight operations in the state.
"As a state government, we want to invite the contractor to see how we can intervene and, if possible, take over the job so that we can have a terminal and a functional airport.
"It's our desire to provide commercial flights, and we are talking to some private airline operators to come to Niger State,", he said.
Umaru Bago expressed delight with the quality of the job being done and said he was optimistic the work would be handed over soon.
The contractor handling the runway project assured the governor that he would meet the deadline and that it would soon be ready for operations.