From: Mohammed Munirat Nasir, Gusau
The Zamfara State police command has refuted social media reports that a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and three policemen have been kidnapped by armed bandits in Keta town in Tsafe Local Government Area of the state,
A statement by the Command’s Police Public Relation (PPRO), DSP Mohammed Shehu, said the story was a fabrication by those who hell bent in causing trouble in the state.
“The attention of the Zamfara State Police command was drawn to an online media publication dated 4th September, 2017, Captioned:GUNMEN KIDNAPPED DPO, 3 POLICEMEN, KILL TWO IN ZAMFARA. The command wishes to inform members of the public that, there was no iota of truth of DPO and 3 policemen being kidnapped and two persons been killed in any part of the state. First and foremost, Keta is an outpost under Tsafe division and could not be managed by a DPO,” the statement reads.
The Spokesman added that on Monday’s afternoon the command received report that some armed gunmen attacked Keta town and the command responded swiftly.
“On the 4th September, 2017 at about 1400hrs, policemen on duty attached to same keta outpost under Tsafe divisional headquarters came under sudden attack by unidentified gunmen. As a result of heavy firing between the policemen and the bandits, 3 policemen were discovered missing. The Command acted by deploying Pmf personnell,’F’SARs squad and Anti-kidnapping unit headed by the DPO Tsafe to the area with a view to tracing the missing policemen. Rigorous patrol and surveillance is ongoing to track down the bandits,” the spokesman said.
The police, therefore, urged the public to continue their normal activities as normalcy has been returned to the area and the state.
“In light of the above, the command urged all to ignore such unfounded publication. The area is relatively calm as the situation is under control,” Shehu said.