Police recover 42 stolen cows in Plateau

Govt imposes curfew in two councils
PLATEAU State Police Command yesterday said it had recovered 42 of the 500 cows rustled in Kadunung village in Mangu Local Government of the state.

Command’s spokesman, DSP Emmanuel Abu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Mangu that the recovery of some of the rustled cattle was a herculean task.

Meanwhile, the state government yesterday imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Riyom and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas following a resurgence of violence there.

This information was contained in a statement signed by Mr. Rufus Bature, the Secretary to the State Government Thursday.

“The curfew starts 6 p.m. and ends at 6 a.m.,” the statement declared.

The Police Public Relation Office Abu said, “Officers and men in conjunction with other security operatives in Mangu made stringent efforts since the rustling incident of Monday and made tremendous success. Out of the cattle carted away, 42 cows were recovered with one seriously injured and slaughtered for meat by the owners; that is aside 40 sheep also recovered.”

He, however, said calm and normalcy had returned to the troubled Kadunung community which was deserted following another incident that led to the death of two persons on Tuesday.

The Council Chairman, Mr. Titus Bise, visited Kadunung community on Thursday to assess the situation and commiserated with the bereaved families.

Bise, who went in company with his management team, called on the people to take solace in God who is the giver of life and property.

“We, as management committee of this council, are with you in these painful and unfortunate incidences.

The SSG stated that enough security personnel would be deployed to protect life and property, and cautioned against actions that could worsen the security situation in the area.

The warring Berom and Fulani communities, who only recently resolved to end hostilities, took up arms against each other early this week.

The Special Task Force in charge of security in Plateau has confirmed that many have been killed in the past few days but said that its personnel had been deployed to affected areas to restore law and order.

“All I want you to do is to leave everything in the hands of the Almighty God and not to take the law into your hands and complicate issues,” Bise said.

He called on called on those who deserted the community in wake of the incident to return because security had been beefed up in the area.

The Ardor of the Community, Mr Umaru Buba, had told Bise and his entourage that his 300 cows and 200 others were rustled.
Buba said two of the boys that were rearing the cattle were machete and killed by the rustlers. The remains of the herdsmen had since been buried.