By Ibrahim Sulaiman
The Nigeria Police Force on Tuesday announced the deployment of Police Mobile Force, Counter Terrorism Squad, Anti-Kidnapping Unit, Intelligent Response Team, Special Tactical Squad, Force Intelligence Branch and Police Helicopters to tackle kidnappers and armed robbers on Abuja-Kaduna highway.
The Nigeria Police Force had in June deployed 600 special squad to the expressway to check the menace of kidnapping and armed robbery along the road.
A statement by spokesman for the Nigeria Police Force, Jimoh Moshood, said the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris NPM, was concerned with the occurrence of cases of kidnappings in the recent times on Abuja-Kaduna Highway.
According to him, the new teams will have their base at Rijanah, Kaduna State.
“The Joint Police Team are under specific and definite mandate to root out the kidnap for ransom gangs and armed robbery gangs that have being terrorising the Abuja-Kaduna Highway in the recent times.
“The operations are to complement and augment the on-going Joint Police/Military operations on ground before now.
“To achieve success of the operations absolute sanity, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Department of Operations has been mandated to supervise the operation as overall Commander while the Deputy Commissioner of Police, In-Charge of the Police Mobile Force is the Grand Commander of the Operations.
“The Police personnel will be proactive and work on actionable Intelligence at the disposal of the Force and carry out massive deployment and twenty four (24) hours surveillance and patrol, continuous raids of identified and other suspected hideouts of the kidnappers with a view to arresting them promptly before they attack innocent people.
“They will also nip in the bud other violent crimes such as armed robbery, car snatching etc on Abuja-Kaduna.
“Police Helicopters will embark on aerial surveillance and guided missions to assist the operation Absolute Sanity’s personnel on the ground in covering difficult terrains.
“The Inspector General of Police hereby urges members of the public, most especially commuters, travellers, road users and people in the towns and villages along Abuja-Kaduna Highway not to panic on the mass deployment of Police personnel, but to assist and cooperate with the Police personnel in the discharge of their responsibilities,” Mr Moshood, a chief superintendent of police, said.
