It was learnt that the aircraft crashed Monday, in a certain village while on its way to Niger, a state in North Central Nigeria.

According to sources, the aircraft took off from Kaduna and was on its way to Minna, the Niger state capital when the incident occurred.

Confirming the incident, NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet in a statement said the aircraft departed Zungeru Primary School en route to Kaduna but was later discovered to have crashed in a village in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger state.

The NAF Director disclosed that while investigations had already commenced, efforts were being made to rescue those who were onboard before the aircraft crashed.

His statement read in part; “A Nigerian Air Force MI-171 Helicopter on a casualty evacuation mission crashed today, August 14, 2023, at about 1.1.00 pm Chukuba Village in Niger State.

“The aircraft had departed Zungeru Primary School en route Kaduna but was later discovered to have crashed near Chukuba Village in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.”

Gabkwet said efforts are ongoing to rescue the pilots and passengers on board.

“Efforts are currently ongoing to rescue the crew and passengers on board the helicopter, while preliminary investigations have commenced to determine the probable cause of the crash,” the statement added.

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In another story, the Niger State Police Command has arrested three students of the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University suspected to be cultists and three suspected armed robbers during a robbery attempt in the state.

This was made known by the Police Commands’ spokesman, Wasiu Abiodun, who noted that firearms were recovered in the robbery incident while festive materials were found with the student suspects.

According to the police, three of the suspected cultists, Tanko Augustine Solomon 27, Idris Hamza 25, and Idris Hayatullahi 25, were arrested in their various residences, off-campus in Lapai.

He said their arrests were based on credible intelligence which Police operatives attached to Lapai Div received and acted upon adding that the suspects have been charged to court for prosecution, and effort was ongoing to arrest other members of the cult group.

He said, “During interrogation, the suspects claimed to be IBBU students, as Tanko confessed that they belong to the Neo-black movement (NBM) and his mission was to initiate more students from the school to fight for the black racism movement.

“Further investigation revealed that he has been leading fights to other campuses and that he severed his stepmother’s left hand recently over a mere argument at Maikunkele area of Minna.

“Exhibits recovered from Tanko Solomon include; One locally-made pistol with five cartridges, two axes, one red regalia with the inscription of NBM, two packets of white candles and eight pieces of red candles. One packet of razor blades, two mosquito spray, two lighters, and four kola nuts”.

Speaking on the arrest of the three armed robbers on Sunday, the PPRO said operatives of the NPF attached to Tafa Division apprehended the suspects while on routine patrol around Lolo Layout, Dakwa area.

He said the police were responding to a distress call of an attempted robbery on the street in the area when the suspects were arrested.

According to him, on sighting the Police team, the robbery suspects took to their heels and they were pursued and trailed to a tea seller kiosk around Nato garage, Deidei Abuja.

He said, “the three suspects were arrested, including; Suleman Yahaya 21yrs, Umar Suleman 25yrs, and Khalifa Abdulrahman 18yrs all of the Deidei area of Abuja

“During interrogation, the suspects confessed to being members of a robbery syndicate terrorising Dakwa, Deidei, and its environs. They mentioned three others at large as Hassan, Lamar, and Bakano while a search was conducted in the kiosk and the following items were recovered from them;

“One double-barrel pump action gun, one locally fabricated gun, 264 wraps of substances suspected to be Indian hemp, one cutlass, knife, and three scissors, one white t-shirt, and a vigilante shirt were recovered”.

The Police PRO further added that the suspects will soon be transferred to SCID Minna for discreet investigation while efforts were ongoing to apprehend other fleeing members of the gang.