A 36-year old suspect, identified as Yaman Patigi, has been arrested while on the way to deliver foodstuffs, drugs, and drinks to bandits in Patigi community of Kwara state.
Yaman, was arrested on Friday in Patigi town, headquarters of Patigi Local Government Council.
Salient Times gathered that the suspect has been handed over to the Department of State Security, DSS, in Ilorin, the state capital.
Among items intercepted were hard drugs, alcoholic drinks, packets of cigarettes and foodstuffs for onward delivery to the bandits in their fortress.
Salient Times report that some communities in Patigi, Edu and Ifelodun local government areas of the state have been under persistent attacks by bandits for sometime, leading to deaths and destruction of property of innocent citizens.
The attacks have also forced some residents of the affected communities to flee to safe neighborhoods.
In a bid to stem the spate of the attacks, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq held a meeting with stakeholders from the affected areas with a view to map out strategies towards flushing the bandits out of the forests used as hideouts.
A resident of Patigi town, who spoke in Ilorin on Sunday, lamented that the crisis has greatly devastated the residents and thrown them into disarray.
On Thursday, unconfirmed reports said at least seven vigilantes lost their lives while returning from a clearance operation in Lata Nna community in Patigi Local Government Area, after they were ambushed by the bandits.
Their bodies were recovered on Saturday by another team on similar operation in the area.
Efforts to reach security agencies in the state on the development proved abortive, though reports indicated that the Nigerian Army has concluded plans to launch sustained operations in the efforts to flush the bandits out of the affected communities in the local council areas.
