By Peter Duru, Makurdi

It was like a harvest of arrests, last Thursday, in Benue state after the Commissioner of Police, Bashir Makamma, disclosed that

No fewer than 474 suspects have been arrested by the Benue Police Command within three months for various crimes in parts of the state while five kidnap victims were rescued. Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Bashir Makamma who disclosed this Thursday while marking his 100 days in office also said two robbery cases were foiled while close to 100 different calibres of firearms, over 700 live ammunitions and cartridges, 31 vehicles, 17 motorbikes, cattle, sheep, several household items, bags of Indian hemp and over N2m were recovered.

•The suspects and their ammunition

He said, “When I came, sometimes as many as three cases of cult related killings were recorded in a week alongside pockets of kidnappings, robbery and culpable homicide cases particularly in the Katsina-Ala axis which before now was a no go area.”

Among some of the recent accomplishments recorded by the command was the arrest of a 24- year- old Gabriel Ocheme a.k.a ’embassy’, an alleged notorious criminal who led last month’s bloody attack on the Igumale Police station, in Ado local government area of Benue state that resulted in the death of three police officers. Arrested alongside the wanted kingpin was another member of the gang, 25 year old Okwori Oko. The gang had invaded the said police station killing the deceased police officers and carted away fire arms belonging to the force.

The suspects were paraded alongside four others who were arrested for several crimes in the state. The police boss said; “We are trailing other members of the gang and also making concerted efforts to recover the arms the gang carted away from Igumale Police station. We discovered that the gang is made up of some of the young men who are sometimes hired as mercenaries to prosecute inter communal crisis in the state. They are also known for masterminding several highway robberies in Benue south area of the state including the attacks on Police patrol and Stop- and- Search teams in the area. I can assure you that all those responsible for that attack on our station will surely pay for their action.”

On the vexed issue of the search for one of the most dreaded criminals in the state, the Commissioner of Police said: “Concerted efforts are also being made to arrest and prosecute armed robbers, kidnappers, assassins especially the wanted criminal, Terwase Agwaza aka “Gana” and his gang members who have been declared wanted over several cases of robbery, cattle rustling, kidnapping, assassination and other criminal activities in the state. The command has recovered several property, rustled cattle and sheep as well as arms and ammunition and some military camouflage uniforms reasonably suspected to have been robbed from innocent citizens.”

He said the command under him adopted several crime fighting measures to curb the menace and impunity that had ravaged the state. According to him, among the proactive measures he adopted were the establishment of an Anti-Cult movement which spelt out the dangers of cultism and gave the cultists the opportunity to denounce membership of cult groups they belonged to, and join hands to fight it headlong. “We also drew up Operation Order for crime fighting, National day, festive celebrations and Ember Months which contains action plans to checkmate the activities of criminals associated with festive periods.

“In view of noticeable use of a brand of Toyota Corolla vehicle popularly called “DUCK NYANSH” for kidnapping, robbery and other heinous crime, we formed a data base to check the rampant cases of heinous crimes being witnessed in the state. With this strategy the use of the vehicle for crime purposes has nosedived considerably.

“We had, within the period, actively sustained raids of criminal hideouts and patrols of the nooks and crannies of the state as part of the proactive measures which in no small measure prevented so many criminal activities in the state. Our patrol teams stationed at strategic and visible points have helped our swift response to distress calls, coupled with the dissemination of Police emergency numbers to members of the public.”