- Roll out new counter-kidnapping strategies
Chiemelie Ezeobi
Police operatives drawn from ‘Operation Puff Adder‘, have rescued 27 kidnapped victims including five Chinese Nationals from a forest in Birnin Gwari, Kaduna State.
This is just as the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, Thursday rolled out new counter-kidnapping operational strategies to speedily bring to an end the current internal security challenges being experienced in some parts of the country.
In a statement by the Force Spokesman, Frank Mba, a deputy commissioner of police, the police said the Chinese citizens were earlier kidnapped on April 15 in Bobi, Niger State.
Stating that their rescue was painstakingly executed after both air and ground surveillance, he said the kidnappers died from injuries sustained during exchange of gun fire with the police.
For the 22 other victims who were abducted, he said they will they were rescued from Zamfara State and other parts of the country.
Mba added that between January 2019 and the 1st week of May, 2019, a total of 270 suspected kidnappers were arrested, 275 suspected armed robbers arrested and 105 assorted weapons plus a large cache of ammunition recovered.
On the new strategies he said: “They are purposeful and intelligence-driven and are targeted at identifying, locating and dismantling kidnapping gangs across the nation and bringing the kidnappers and their collaborators to justice.
“It is designed to complement and strengthen the ‘Operation Puff Adder’ currently going on in several states of the federation.
“The operation will involve the deployment of undercover operatives, decoy operations and high-level tactical missions with active participation of operatives drawn from the conventional police units, the Force Intelligence Unit, the Special Anti-Robbery Squads (SARS), the Special Anti-kidnapping Squads and the Police Tactical Units comprising the Police Mobile Force (PMF), the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) and the Special Forces.
“The IG, while commending the general public for their understanding and supports so far, reassures the nation that the end to violent crimes and other sundry criminal activities is in sight.
“He promises that the police under his leadership will continue to work with other relevant stakeholders in the task of making Nigeria safer and better.”
