Kaduna police command yesterday confirmed a recent increase in the rate of crime in the state but said it has gone all out to deal with criminals and has so far apprehended 458 suspects in connection with various crimes.
A surge in criminal activities in the state, including kidnapping, cattle rustling, car-jacking, armed robbery and drug abuse, recently had heightened concerns among the citizenry.
Assistant Inspector General of Police, Ballah M. Nasarawa, who was redeployed from Abuja due to the rising crime wave about two weeks ago, said the measures the command has put in place within the period have helped to burst many gangs and apprehended those suspected to be behind criminal activities.
“I requested and got contingents of personnel from the counter-terrorism unit, the special protection unit, the intelligence response team as well as the forensic and crime data unit, all the from the Force headquarters in Abuja,” he said.
The AIG said those arrested include eight suspected to be behind the kidnap of the three pastors recently released with one dead, three suspects held in connection with the kidnap of Dr. Mansur Ahmed, an executive director with Dangote Group, two in the case of the kidnap of one Pastor Elijah Afolabi, six arrested in Rigasa, one kidnapper in Kafanchan, three kidnappers in Mararaban Jos and a notorious kidnapper who has been terrorising Jere local government area of the state.
He said two suspects were also arrested while trying to kidnap one Samuel David at Sabon Tasha in Kaduna, while a car snatcher in Rigasa, and a cattle rustler were also nabbed.
The AIG said the arrested suspects were in police custody and are being interrogated and profiled.
Items recovered from the suspects, he said, include 71 heads of cattle and 38 sheep, five AK-47 rifles with many rounds of ammunition and a sizeable quantity of hard drugs and other intoxicants.
The AIG also disclosed that the Kaduna command will in the next few days redeploy many of its personnel outside the state as he said many of them have overstayed in their stations.
He said many of the officers in the Kaduna command have been found to have stayed for up to 20 to 30 years in one station and said this was not healthy for an effective policing of the state.
“DPOs should get ready to tell their subordinates to start packing their things. This is not the Native Police or Yandoka or whatever, we are the Nigeria Police,” he said.
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