Posted by Sola Adebayo and Akin Oyedele on
Twenty bandits have been killed in a shoot out with policemen in various parts of Delta State in the past two months.
Twenty bandits have been killed in a shoot out with policemen in various parts of Delta State in the past two months.
Also, 50 others, currently facing trial were apprehended during the period by the state's police command.
The Commissioner of Police in the command, Mr. Udom Ekpoudom, said this while parading the remains of a slain bandit and another arrested by his men attached to Enerhen Police Station, in Uvwie Local Government before newsmen on Wednesday.
Ekpoudom said the hoodlums had a bloody encounter with the men of the anti-robbery team of Enerhen Police Station at Odibo Estate area of Effurun on Tuesday night.
He said, 'My men went on patrol around Odibo Estate, but unluckily the hoodlums went to rob one man of his property. When the robbers saw my men they opened fire, my men could not do without firing back. They fired and in the course of firing, one of the robbers was killed and one was arrested, and the one who is alive really confessed being a robber. They took the one shot to the hospital, but on the way, he died."
Ekpoudom displayed two locally made pistols recovered from the bandits.
He also revealed that six armed robbery suspects were arrested during a search of a luxury bus by policemen in Asaba on Monday, adding that arms and ammunition to be used in robbing the passengers of the bus were recovered from the suspects.
Ekpoudom urged criminals in the state to turn a new leave or flee the state.
He, however, attributed the success recorded in the war against banditry to the support of the members of the public and called for their continued cooperation with the command to rid the state of criminals.
Ekpoudom assured the public that any information provided by them would be treated with utmost confidentiality.
The robbery suspect (name withheld), who spoke to our correspondent, claimed that he was not aware that his slain friend, who persuaded him to accompany him to Odibo Estate, was going for a robbery operation.
Meanwhile, one week after the Edo State Government disbanded the joint police/military task force, the three Peugeot 504 Station Wagon cars transferred to the police have been grounded because of lack of money to fuel them.
Investigation by our correspondent revealed that the development was a fallout of the hide-and-seek game being played by the state government over the controversial circumstances leading to the dissolution of the team.
Repeated visits to the command's headquarters revealed that the vehicles, marked PF 2850 ED, PF 2851 ED and PF 2997 ED had remained grounded since last Thursday, while the Toyota Hiace buses were still parked at the Governor's Office.
It was learnt that issues bordering on the maintenance of the team, including fuelling of the cars, were partly responsible for the disbandment of the task force.
The task force was established in December, last year, following the siege of armed robbers on the state, who left in their trail killings of policemen and civilians.
Contrary to claims by the state government that it would support the police to position them well for the new task, it was learnt that nothing tangible had been done in this regard.
To compound the problem, our correspondent learnt that the fuel dump at the police command, which had gone dry since November, last year, was yet to be supplied with new consignment.
A police source lamented the helplessness of the command and the inability of the state government to match its public statements with action.
The source said, 'I sympathise with the public, who may not know the politics behind the dissolution of operation MESA. Should anybody make a distress call to us now, we cannot make use of any of the cars.
'I'm sure the command must have written to the state government for assistance in this regard. They are aware that we don't have fuel. Until we hear from them, I can assure you that those vehicles will remain there."
However, the Commander of 4 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Brig-Gen Buluk Saliyuk, on Wednesday clarified that the decision to 'withdraw operation MESA" was not taken by the army authorities.
At a news conference addressed on his behalf by Lieutenant Col. Samuel Iwanje, the commander denied that a rift existed between the defunct team and the state government, or that he 'unilaterally ordered the withdrawal of operation MESA from the streets of Benin."
This was contrary to a statement issued on Tuesday by the Senior Special Assistance on Security Matters to the governor, Col. Victor Obaseki, who insisted that the team had not been disbanded.
Obaseki had maintained that it was only the military personnel attached to the team that 'were withdrawn temporarily for operational reasons," adding that the police had since taken over their duties.
He said, 'We want to assure the public that adequate logistics and security arrangement have been put in place to check the menace of armed robbery in the state. Further logistics and communication equipment are also being put in place for the police."
Further investigation revealed that the riot policemen drawn from Enugu to fortify the operation had returned to the Ogida barracks and were awaiting the payment of arrears of their N500 daily allowance.
The Punch, Thursday, June 09, 2005