Three principal suspects arrested for allegedly participaing in the recent Zamfara killings are now in police custody and are assisting the police in the investigation into the crime. The suspects are Garba, 45, Marafa, 45, and Badamosi, 40.
Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Ibrahim Idris, has deployed three additional units of Police Mobile Force (PMF) to Birane village in Zurmi Local Government Area of Zamfara State, to forestall further loss of life.
Bandits suspected to be cattle rustlers had on February 14 killed 18 people in Birane.
Seven PMF units were recently deployed to the state to augment the personnel of the police command there.
A statement by the police spokesman, CSP Jimoh Moshood, said that Idris gave the directive after a visit to the state for an on-the-spot assessment of the incident. He said that the IGP, who was accompanied by the AIG, Zone 10, Sokoto, and commissioners of police in the zone, held a meeting with the people.
Moshood said that a joint investigation team headed by the AIG in charge of intelligence at the Force Headquarters was also dispatched to the state.
The team was under a definite and strict mandate to arrest and bring to justice the perpetrators of the killings and investigate the remote and direct causes of the mayhem.
“They were further directed by the IGP to arrest and disarm all suspected bandits, militias and criminal groups in possession of prohibited firearms and restricted weapons in the region,” he said.
Moshood said that the IGP also placed commissioners of police, their supervising AIGs and all personnel of the force in states contiguous to Zamfara on red alert.
According to him, normalcy has been restored in the area and the situation is under control.
The spokesman assured the people of Zamfara and other states in the country of adequate protection of their life and property.
“The force, therefore, encourages them to go about their lawful activities without fear or apprehension, but support and cooperate with the police personnel deployed in their localities,” he said.
|Sun