Inspector General of Police, Acting IGP Mohammed Abubakar Adamu on Thursday shed more light into why banditry thrives in Zamfara state and other areas of the North West resulting in several killings saying many traditional rulers are involved in mining activities (Gold).
Speaking at a meeting with Strategic Police Managers (Zonal AIGs & Command CPs) which he summoned to evolve new approaches that will be potent enough to effectively mitigate these threats, the IGP said “we saw a kind of nexus between activities of the bandits and the mining fields. That is why the federal government banned mining”.
IGP Adamu disclosed that the launch of Operation Puff Adder was conceptualized and launched on 5th April 2019 to address in the shortest possible time, the threat of kidnapping, armed robbery and armed banditry in Kogi, Niger, Zamfara, Kaduna and Katsina states as well as FCT.
Between 5th April, 2019 when the operation was launched and today, the initiative has led to arrest of 46 kidnappers and armed bandits, killing of 10 bandits in operations, rescue of 2 victims while 9 AK 47 rifles and 9 locally made automatic weapons were recovered.
Also recovered by Operation Puff Adder is 1,300 AK 47 live ammunition, 28 live cartridges, and 10 extra rifle magazines.
On the aspect if Kidnapping, the IGO said that following the take off of Operation Puff Adder, many kidnappers along the Abuja – Kaduna road, Abuja- Niger-Katsina road have been gunned down.
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Consequently, IGP Adamu said that Kaduna expressway is mostly free of kidnappers as ” Our men engaged the kidnappers and a lot of them were gunned down.
While charging the senior Police officers, he said, “Your professional competence is measured by your capacity to dissect the trends and patterns of crimes within your area of jurisdiction, develop and modify crime management strategies and deploy your human and material assets towards achieving a stable security order.
” While some of you have demonstrated a very high and commendable level of professional competence which had manifested in the moderation of crimes in your commands, unfortunately, the professional proficiency and sense of commitment to duty of some others being called to question in the face of inappropriate response to threats of crimes in their jurisdictions.
“The current security realities in the country have made this trend intolerable”.
” Consequently, I charge you all, as you return to your various commands, to renew your sense of commitment to duty and demonstrate requisite professional leadership needed to roll back the current unacceptable trend of crimes in your commands.
“The only way to stay ahead of criminals is to continually generate actionable criminal intelligence to support our anti-crime functions. This can only be achieved if we cultivate citizens partnership and confidence by returning policing to the people”, the IGP added.
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