The Enugu Police Command says it has recovered 165 assorted arms and 160 assorted ammunition from armed robbers in the state within the first half of 2018.

The state’s Commissioner of Police, Mr Mohammed Danmallam, made the disclosure in Enugu on Tuesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Danmallam said that within the first six months of the year, the command also recovered 231 cartridges and arrested 1,874 persons for various offences in the state.

According to him, the recovered arms include: 10 AK47 rifles; 33 pump action guns; 56 locally-made pistols (single barrel) and 36 locally-made pistols (double single).

‘‘We also recovered 12 locally-made cut to size short guns; three locally-made revolver short guns; 11 Berretta pistols and 17 single barrel long guns under the period under review,’’ he said.

The commissioner also stressed that 1,008 cases were reported to the command in the period under review.

‘‘Among 1,874 persons arrested, 1,680 persons were charged to court and 356 of them had so far been convicted by the court.

‘‘We have 718 of them still undergoing trial in different courts across the state,’’ he said.

Danmallam also revealed that the command recovered N1.5 million cash within the period under review.

He attributed the success of the command to dedication of officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force serving in the state.

‘‘The command had also enjoyed a robust relationship with sister security agencies and the good people of the state, especially Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi that keep on supporting the police in all its efforts to fight crime and criminality,’’ he said.

The commissioner, however, recalled that by the time he took over in February, 2017, the rate of heinous and violent crimes in the state was high.

He said the security situation has improved to the extent that ‘‘the state is so crime-free and peaceful that people attend social functions, even late at night.’’

He also told NAN that the challenges facing the command included shortage of manpower and logistics, inadequate communication gadgets, vehicles, motorcycles, offices among others.

Danmallam said that police personnel needed adequate enumeration to get motivated to fight crime the more and sustain the peace in the state.

NAN reports that the command currently has five Area Commands as well as 37 Divisions under it. (NAN)