Our Reporter
Benue State Police Command said it arrested 26 criminal suspects for alleged kidnapping, armed robbery, theft, among others, during the Christmas and New Year celebrations.
Commissioner Mr. Mukaddas Garba, who addressed reporters yesterday in Makurdi on the security situation during the Yuletide, said that the festive season was relatively hitch-free with pockets of incidents in parts of the state.
He identified lack of effective information flow as the major challenge faced by the command in 2019, saying the situation, however, improved during the festive period.
Garba said that the collaboration with sister security agencies and Benue communities had improved so much that the people had tremendous confidence in the force and, therefore, shared confidential information with it.
The police commissioner said the partnership further resulted in the arrest of 26 suspects for alleged kidnapping, armed robbery and theft among other crimes, as well as recovery of 205 live ammunition, one car and nine motorcycles during the Yuletide.
Read Also: ‘213 suspects nabbed in 2019’
“Actually, the major challenge we had when we came on board was lack of information, but with the synergy we have with our sister agencies and communities, the situation has changed.
“The information flow during the festive period was perfect and you are all living witnesses to the hitch-free celebration. We had no major incident that could have disrupted the activities of people who came home for the celebration.
“And I think there is significant improvement in the relationship we are having with the public. Information flow was our major problem but now there is no hitch. People are having confidence in us because we gave them assurance that their information would be treated in confidence,” he said
Garba said the command received a complaint that “an unknown person who introduced himself as Gana boy threatened to kidnap and kill the complainant if he doesn’t send money to him”.
He said that investigation led to the arrest of Aondona Gbakaan, a politician and his boys; Sughen and Terkimbi Orjime who before their arrest had already collected N200,000 as ransom from the complainant.
He said the command also arrested Usman Saleh and Ibrahim Usman on December 27 with 200 rounds of live ammunition during a stop and search at Tyomu, village, while they were on transit in a red Toyota Corolla car conveying other passengers.
The police boss also said that the command on December 30 arrested Yogbo Terhile, Samuel Iorbee and Tyoor Aondowase who were specialists in snatching motorcycles and robbing commuters in Gboko.
Leave a Reply