IGP orders deployment of police units, equipment to tackle bandits in Katsina

Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has ordered the deployment of additional police units and security equipment to tackle bandits in Kastina.

The equipment includes Armored Personnel Carriers (APC), which are meant to root out the bandits based in Rugu forest.

The forest, which extends to all the states neighboring Katsina, is also found in several frontline council areas, including Sabuwa, Jibia, Dandume, Safana, Kankia, Fasakari, and Batsari.

Spokesman of the Police Command in the state, Gambo Isah, said the approval followed the outcry of Governor Aminu Bello Masari, about the deteriorating security situation in the state.

Masari had on Wednesday during an extra-ordinary security meeting, lamented that the state was under siege by kidnappers, bandits and rustlers.

He disclosed that security reports show that the problem has become a daily occurrence.

The governor announced that a female relation of a permanent secretary in his government was kidnapped, even as five gunmen attacked some people who left his residence around 2:00p.m on New Year eve.

The police spokesman said: “The units will be in addition to the three counter terrorism units that are already on ground, and which had been deployed to the front line areas that share boundary with Zamfara.”

He disclosed that also on ground are the IGP Special Task Forces that are meant to take fight to the bandits inside the bush.

Isah also said that the police and other security units in the state were doing their best to curtail banditry, kidnapping and other security challenges in the state.

He however agreed that there were security challenges in the eight front line councils with Zamfara State, including Jibia, Kankara, Batsari, Dandume, and Sabwa.

According to him: “The Commissioner of Police, Muhammed Wakili, takes the issue of security of the state seriously and had times without number personally led in the patrol of grey areas.

He said recent police efforts in the state had led to the arrest of over 100 suspected kidnappers and the recovery of 30 assorted weapons including 10 AK 47 rifles.

In a related development, the Secretary to the Government of the State (SGS), Mustapha Inuwa, has identified lack of synergy between security agencies in the state, as reason behind the rise in crime.