Bauchi Police kill 13 kidnappers, rescue 6 victims in two months
AREWA AGENDA – Bauchi State Police Command killed thirteen suspected kidnappers at various locations across the State within two months, while six kidnapped victims were rescued.
Fourteen different rifles, including 10 AK-47, were recovered within the period during several operations.
The Commissioner of Police, Bauchi State, Aminu Alhassan, disclosed this in a welcome address during the maiden official visit of the Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG Zone 12, Olawole Toeheed Olokode to the State Command.
CP Alhassan said that the Command recorded so many kidnapping activities in some areas of the State which include Alkaleri, Bauchi, Toro, and Tafawa Balewa, in 2022.
He said: “But certainly, the Command has put in place sustained operations and commitments to deal with the bandits in collaboration with other sister security agencies and quasi security outfits. The Command has made remarkable achievements in tackling such menace.
“Proactive measures have been stepped up to checkmate the crime of kidnapping, armed robbery, cattle rustling, human trafficking, culpable homicide and rape to manageable ebb.
“Vehicular patrols and visibility policing are intensified around all institutions of learning in the state as an active antidote to the most disheartening crime and horrifying activities of hoodlums who periodically kidnap innocent students from across the country.
“It is worthy to note, sir, that communal clashes and the Herders-farmers crisis would have been at their peak, were it not for the committees set up on the matter, to systematically and ceaselessly interface, dialogue, and map out resolutions for peaceful coexistence among them.
“Issues bordering on religious intolerance and fanaticism are being nibbed in the bud through timely actionable intelligence and prompt mediation by the Police,” he stated.
Alhassan added that: “May I intimate Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Sir, about the following achievements from 15th November 2022 when I assumed duty as the Commissioner of Police in the state to date.
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“We recovered 10 AK47 rifles, one fabricated SMG rifle, one locally-made revolver pistol, one locally-made Beretta pistol, seven cartridges, two 9mm ammunition, 22 rounds of 7×62.51mm NATO ammunition, 29 rounds of 7×62.39mm ammunition five empty magazines, one dane gun, three Honda Bajaj motorcycles, two handheld trans-receiver radio (walkie-talkie).
“We rescued six kidnapped victims unhurt while 13 suspected kidnappers were neutralized.”
He stated that the achievements would have been at a geometric progression, were it not for some inadequacies and constraints confronting the Command such as: “insufficiency of manpower, lack of logistics particularly Armoured Personnel Carriers, patrol vehicles, bulletproof vests and tear smoke required to storm and confront the armed bandit’s camps head-long, inadequate supply of technology/technical tools for scientific the forests, swampy and mountainous terrains,” advising that, “there is a need to improve on them to upgrade our security architecture.
The CP said that there are security challenges in various parts of the country and therefore, they require robust and holistic strategy to deal with the attack on villages, facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission, campaign rallies, high-profile personalities, law enforcement officers, and government installations, in ensuring that the state of insecurity is greatly mitigated in our Command.
He added that the Command is reaching out to all security stakeholders through sharing of actionable intelligence, carrying out confidence-building patrols/ joint raids, and various strategic planning and execution of the operation, which have been yielding great dividends already.
According to the Police Boss, the Command which is still being classified as one of the most peaceful states in the National Security crime analysis, “has been able to tackle the upsurge of rape cases to the barest minimum by adopting a combination of kinetic and non-kinetic crime-fighting strategies.”
“We have been involved in aired jingles against rape, sermons in places of worship, and services of NGOs, and the Local Government chairmen’s wives to effectively sensitize parents and their wards against the menace of rape.
“Parents/Guardians were also enjoined to ensure proper guidance and desist from sending their daughters alone on errands or trade-hawking at odd hours to secluded places unaccompanied. Above all, all rapists in the Command are logically prosecuted to end and ensure that appropriate punishment is met,” Alhassan added.
