Tag: Police

No fewer than 150 suspects were  arrested yesterday by the police in Ondo, Ondo West Local Government Area of Ondo State.

It was gathered that the police at the Funbi-Fagun Division intercepted a truck conveying the suspects, reportedly armed with weapons, to an undisclosed location.

Sources said the suspects were conveyed in the truck with registration number KANO NSR 97 XZ.

They claimed they were coming from Kebbi State and headed towards Ore in Odigbo Local Government Area before they were intercepted at Lipakala Junction in Ondo town.

The operation, which was led by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Funbi-Fagun, Olu-Ojo Ogunmoyole, also involved  the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and  the Department of State Service (DSS).

The suspects were initially detained at the Funbi-Fagun Division before they were  conveyed in the truck to the command’s state headquarters in Akure.

A crowd gathered at the police station where the suspects were initially taken to.

Eighteen locally made guns, two jack knives, 22 cutlasses and several torch lights were recovered from them.

One of the suspects, who identified himself as Abdulahi Sheriff, said they are not Boko Haram members, adding they are farmers from Birnin-Kebbi, seeking greener pastures in the Southwest.

He explained that their movement was due to the prolonged dry season in the North, which he said has affected their trade.

Ogunmoyole confirmed the incident.

Inspector-General of Police (IG) Solomon Arase has said the Police is considering conducting psychiatric test on recruits and officers.

Arase spoke at the Nigeria Police Force Health Policy Revalidation meeting in Abuja yesterday.

He said the initiative became necessary following incidents of indiscriminate use of firearms by personnel of the force.

The IG said inadequate manpower had exposed officers to working for longer hours.

He said the force was also considering establishing a Trauma Centre for its officers because of the nature of their job.

“The Police should be concerned about the mental health of officers,“he said.

Arase had advised divisional police officers (DPOs) to always determine the mental awareness of officers before assigning firearms to them to curtail incidents of ‘accidental discharge`.

He said inadequate health workers, poor funding, infrastructure deficit and management deficiencies were challenges inhibiting the force’s medical unit.

Arase noted that to tackle these challenges, it was expedient to develop a health policy for the force.

“The development of any policy document entails an inclusive approach with relevant stakeholders.

“You have been invited here today to review the Draft Health Policy for the Nigeria Police Force,“he said.

Minister of Health Prof. Isaac Adewole promised the ministry’s assistance in the implementation of the policy.

“We will assist in the implementation, we will ensure it happens,“Adewole said.

He hailed the police management for developing a health policy for its officers and their families.

Registrar, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) Dr Abdulmumini Ibrahim said the policy was long overdue.

He said the council would help the police to build the capacity to handle the facility.

The Nigeria Police Medical Service was established in 1975 with the primary mandate of providing health care to serving, retired, relations of the force and detainees.

The Kano State Police Command confiscated hard drugs, including intoxicants, with a value of over N1.2 billion, between October 25 and December 31.

The spokesman, Musa Magaji Majiya, said among the drugs recovered were 900 cartons of Tramado tablets, cocaine powder, 400 kgs of Indian hemp, over 10,000 bottles of cough syrup, including Tutoline, Raphnol, Packaline, Codeine, Suck and Die and rubber solution meant for patching tubes.

He said the raid, code-named: Operation ‘Gida Gida’ (House to House), was carried out during which over 250 suspected drug retailers and addicts were arrested.

Majiya said the suspects were arraigned, adding that 90 per cent of the importers/dealers were non-indigenes, while their target consumers/end users were youths and women, who constituted 90 per cent of Kano indigenes.

The spokesman said members of an international gang of drug barons, who allegedly swallowed 500 grammes of cocaine/heroine each and headed for Saudi Arabia, were arrested.

He said the suspects, who were paid between N600,000 and N800,000 each for every trip, were arrested with cocaine sealing machine, which they allegedly used to seal the drugs with a cellophane material, turning them into capsules to ease swallowing.

Among the eight suspects was Dickson Emeagh, 56, who told our reporter that he was a repentant drug dealer implicated by someone arrested by the police.

He said: “I was in this business for sometime in Kano, but I repented and relocated to Abuja three years ago to engage in another trade. I came for a wedding in Kano and was surprised that someone arrested by the police led them to my home where I was arrested without any exhibit found on me, but with a sealing machine I earlier used.”

Another suspect, who hails from Imo State, identified as Dickson Ofomale, 38, said: “I was in the business for seven years. I sniffed and sold drugs, but I have repented. I was arrested by the police, without any exhibit found on me.”

The command enjoined the people to assist it with information to locate drug warehouses and arrest peddlers and other criminals.