Routing Criminals In Kaduna

Femi Adi/Kaduna

Kaduna Police Command reaps dividend in its renewed effort to rid the state of criminals

For more than one year in Kaduna State, armed robbers and car snatchers enjoyed a field day terrorising people, operating both day and night unhindered. Until two weeks ago, when the new Kaduna Commissioner of Police, Umar Shehu, took war to the hiding places of criminals in the state.

Shehu said he would not tolerate any breach of the law in the state, and topmost of his priority is the protection of life and property of residents. This informed the recent move to track down and flush criminals out of their dens. And it seems the move is reaping dividends.

Before Shehu’s new onslaught, some suspected criminals, who were thought to enjoy the protection of compromised police officers and security operatives, went about robbing indiscriminately. But the new police boss would not accept that they are untouchables. In his determination to ensure a low crime rate, he embarked on a familiarisation tour of the various police units and communities. This gave him insight as to the kind of strategy and actions he would adopt in engaging the robbers and other criminals.

Shehu, who was transferred from Nasarawa State in February, came quietly but determined to flush out the criminals in the state, particularly ahead of the 2015 electioneering period. And while the unsuspecting criminals were still basking in the euphoria of their supposed immunity from arrest, he ordered several teams of armed police to comb, among other areas, the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway, Ungwar Rimi, Jere, Tudun-Wada, Rigasa, Barnawa, Zaria-Kaduna Expressway, which were identified as flash points of regular armed robbery and car snatching. This proved a masterstroke as, within a week of giving the order on 18 March, over 30 hideouts of criminals were raided within the metropolis and border towns. The raids led to the arrest of 15 suspected armed robbers and car snatchers, with several rifles and ammunition recovered. A police source that spoke to this magazine under plea of anonymity, hinted that some criminals that resisted arrest were killed, while others submitted themselves for arrest after realising that the game was up.

“It was the most effective operation ever carried out in the state since I joined the police ten years ago,” he said.

Briefing journalists at the Kaduna Police Headquarters on 26 March on what he described as “Breakthrough Recorded by the Kaduna State Command”, Shehu paraded arrested suspected armed bandits, car snatchers and their partners in crime. He also announced with pride that police did not sustain any casualty in the course of their raids. “We decided to do our job as police officers, which is to ensure peace and maintain law and orde.In doing so, we would not succumb to any form of pressure,” he asserted.

Among the suspects arrested by the police team drafted to comb Kawo area were two car snatchers, one of them Babangida Ibrahim, a 30-year-old dismissed soldier; and Umar Haruna, 27, of Ungwar Kanawa. They were nabbed in a dark green Mercedes Benz ML320 SUV with registration number: Kano AE 883 BCH.

Ibrahim confirmed that he was recruited into the army in 2005 but was dismissed in 2008, after the Army authorities discovered he used a fake secondary school result to enlist. Left with no means of livelihood, he decided to make a career of stealing cars, after his mother prepared a charm for him that she assured would enable him steal cars with ease. He said he became ruthless after discovering the efficacy of the charm, which, he said, helped him to evade security checks. But after stealing over 60 vehicles and making several millions of naira, he said, luck ran out on him when he was trailed and arrested by the police following a tip-off from a member of the public. Shehu said the police recovered seven stolen exotic cars from him, among them an unregistered Toyota Highlander, Sharon Galaxy Ford, Opel Sinatra, Honda Civic, Sharon Volkwagen and aVED Sharonlet.

The commissioner also explained that on 20 March, one Nathaniel Danjuma, a resident of Romi New Extension, was arrested for stealing a Honda Civic with registration number Kaduna AE 380 SNN, while trying to escape from custody for an earlier crime. Sambo Bature, 32, another suspect, was traced to his France Road, Kakuri residence a by team of policemen detailed to comb the area. A Mar rifle was recovered from him.

Shehu said Bature gave the police a tough time before he was arrested, but during interrogation he confessed to using the gun for armed robbery operations. Batureclaimed he was an auto mechanic who took to armed robbery after he lost his job in 2010. On how he got the gun, Bature said he stole it from a security personnel during an operation along Abuja-Kaduna Expressway.

Also arrested by the same team of armed policemen deployed to Abuja-Kaduna Expressway were three suspected members og a gang believed to have been terrorising travelers at night. They are Adamu Mallam, 20; Samaila Abubakar, 25, and Ado Bello, 20, all of Maraban Issa village, Jere, Kaduna. When the suspects’ residences were searched, arms and ammunition recovered from them included a locally made revolver, a police barretta pistol, a sharp cutlass, six live cartridges. Also found were  two motorcycles, a face mask and some charms.

On the same day, a police team acting on a tip-off, moved to Akwaya Daji, Awon District in Kachia Local Government Area and arrested Iliyasu Adamu, 53, and Ali Mohammed. Recovered from them were a rifle and 14 rounds of live ammunition as well as 13 cows and nine sheep suspected to have been stolen.

Police tracking armed robbers along Zaria-Kano road arrested 43 suspected rail-track vandals, recovering from them 27 rail implements. Incidentally, four were Nigeria Railway Corporation staff – Musa Abdullahi, Bello Abdullahi, Salisu Adamu and Ahmed Lawal.

Rounding up the briefing, the police commissioner said the Command will not relent in its fight against criminals in the state, begging the public to report suspicious movements or characters noticed in their areas.

…Published in TheNEWS magazine