THE Police have arrested 18 suspects over last week’s mayhem in Offa, Kwara State and Doga, Bali Local Government Areas of Taraba state respectively during which several lives were lost and property worth millions of naira were lost.
The Force Public Relations Officer, FPRO, ACP Jimoh Moshood who disclosed this to newsmen while parading the suspects before news men in Abuja on Sunday said that while Eight Principal Suspects were arrested in the Offa Bank Robbery, 12 Suspects nabbed for the killings in Donga and Bali Local Government Areas of Taraba State.
According to him, “the items recovered from the suspects include; Seven AK47 Rifles, four Locally made Revolver Pistols and 30 Rounds of AK47 Ammunition, Seven Operational Vehicles of the Armed Robbers and assailants in the two ncidents.”
The FPRO stated that following the ugly incidents in the two states, the Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim Idris has ordered deployment of three Police Mobile Force Units, high powered police investigation team, Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) with 10 Crew members and Anti-Robbery equipment to Kwara State and three additional Police Mobile Force units to Taraba State to beef up security in the areas.
The teams, according to him were under strict instructions to prevent further attacks, arrest perpetrators and carry out a discreet investigation into the Offa Banks robbery and recent killings in Donga and Bali LGAs of Taraba state.
He added that the deployments which have arrived the two States would cover Offa Local Government Area and its environs and other vulnerable points in Kwara State, while the deployment of the Three Police Mobile Force (PMF) in addition to the Five PMF units recently deployed to Taraba State would cover Donga, Bali, Lau, Gasol, Karim Lamido LGAs and other flashpoints in the State.
According to him, “the Police teams will carry out intelligence gathering, raids of identified criminal spots/flashpoints, stop and search operations, visibility and confidence-building patrols, the arrest of perpetrators and further investigation into the incidents.
“The immediate intervention and preliminary investigation carried out by the high-powered Police Investigation Team deployed by the IGP working in synergy with the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department in the two (2) Commands.
He disclosed that all the suspects have made confessional statements to the police investigators about their roles in the two incidents with a promise that they would be arraigned n court after the ongoing investigations.
The FPRO said that while the Nigeria Police Force deeply commiserates with the Governments and People of Kwara and Taraba States over the recent killings, he called for calm and support for the police personnel deployed to sustain the normalcy that had been restored in the affected States.
He implored the people to be vigilant and security conscious and as well to promptly report suspicious acts or persons to the nearest Police detachment or station for prompt action to avert untoward incidents.
