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• Police, others up the game, close in on criminals
From Ben Dunno, Warri
Yuletide period all over the world is that time Christians reflect on the birth of Jesus Christ and celebrate His coming to atone for the sins of mankind.
To the criminally minded, however, it is a different ball game altogether. For them, it’s just the right time to consolidate their nefarious activities, especially with the mindset that the majority of people are carried away with the euphoria of the festive period.
And to the security agencies particularly the police, it is the time to intensify their surveillance networks to prevent possible breakdown of law and order and violent crimes commonly associated with the season. Based on this, stakeholders, including security watch groups, usually take time out to monitor and rate performances of security agencies.
To this end, security watch groups in Delta State, recently examined scorecards of the police command in recent times. The Delta Oil and Gas Security Monitoring Group (DOGSMG), made up of serving and retired Oil and Gas workers as well as independent marketers, applauded the efforts of the police.
It specifically lauded the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Olukayode Egbetokun and Commissioner of Police, Wale Abass, for reducing crime rate in the state. Chief Frank Akpodiete and Chinedu Ezeonyeka, DOGSMG chairman and secretary respectively, commended the police for foiling kidnap and armed robbery attempts in Okpe Local Government, where cases of violent crimes, mostly kidnappings had increased in recent times.
Making reference to the account of police spokesman, Bright Edafe, the body lauded police for acting swiftly to distress calls by the Okpe leaders on the rising kidnapping incidents in the community by directing the Commander, Safer Highway, Joseph Onubi, to mobilise and deploy his men in Sapele to keep close surveillance in and out of the town.
Edafe had said: “Crime intelligence operations being conducted throughout the ‘ember’ months keep yielding positive results as the operatives of the command have successfully foiled an attempted kidnapping and recovered two AK-47 rifles on Sunday, December 17, 2023.
“On the said date, at 2130hours, the command received credible information about a gang of suspected kidnappers around Okpe LG. Acting on this information, CP Wale Abass directed the Commander, Safer Highway, Onubi, to mobilise men around Sapele axis.
“Safer Highway patrol team embarked on an intensive stop-and-search along Okwutaiire community, Okpe LG, when they sighted a Toyota Camry 2.4 (REG. NO:GGE 645 FM) that matched the description given by the informant and headed towards their direction.
“The driver on sighting the Police immediately manoeuvred and zoomed off. The police chased them forcing the driver and another occupant to jump out of the moving vehicle. They fled into a nearby bush, abandoning the vehicle and a 54-year-old man.
“During the search of the vehicle, two AK-47 riffles with 13 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition were recovered, concealed inside the vehicle engine compartment and in the trunk of the car. Exhibits in custody and investigations have commenced as effort is being made to arrest the fleeing members of the gang.”
Similarly, another group, Warri Urban Security Network (WUSN), commended men and officers of the Ekpan Division as well as its Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Aliyu Shaba. It noted their professionalism on the job, especially regarding intelligence gathering: “This has paid off in the arrest and prosecution of die-hard criminals in Warri, Effurun, Udu and environs.”
WUSN chairman, Okiemute Onoriode, recounted: “The ‘ember’ months operational activities as directed by the CP have again reaped benefits as the command has recorded another major breakthroughs in the fight against crime and criminality.
“On Thursday, December 19, 2023, at about 1600hrs, the DPO Ekpan Police Station, Shaba, gathered credible intelligence about the activities of some criminal elements operating within Ekpan, Warri and environs.
“The divisional surveillance team, led by the DPO, swiftly responded to this Intel and trailed the hoodlums to their hideout behind NIGER-CAT. However, upon sighting the Police, the hoodlums took to their heels. They were given a hot chase to no avail.
“An intensive search was conducted around the uncompleted building. A certain sack was found and upon search of the sack bag, the following exhibits were recovered. One AR rifle, two magazines, 75 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition; one locally made cut-to-size gun, four rounds of live cartridges; one Awka-made beretta pistol and one round of nine mm ammunition.”
