Police and bandits engage in a shootout on the Kaduna-Abuja highway.

A gun duel between police and bandits on the ever-busy Kaduna-Abuja Highway on Monday has left one dead.

According to the police, one of the bandits was killed with one AK47 rifle and nine of their operational motorcycles were recovered.

The police spokesman in Kaduna State, DSP Mohammed Jalige, confirmed the incident in a statement issued in Kaduna.

He stated that the feat was another indication of successful and purposeful synergy between the police and the military in Kaduna State.

“On Monday, June 13 at 2:55 a.m. a team of Police Operation Puff Adder and that of the army’s Operation Thunder Strike on routine patrol along the Kaduna-Abuja highway encountered the bandits at Sabon Sara.

“An exchange of gunfire ensued as a result of which the friendly forces truncated the bandits’ mission forcing them to retreat into the forest as one bandit was neutralized.

“Upon a search of the general area, an AK47 rifle and nine bandits’ operational motorcycles were recovered,’’ he stated.

The police urged residents in the area to report people with suspected gunshot wounds to security agencies as “injured criminal elements will be hibernating around nearby communities to access healthcare services’’.