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Inspector General of Police Usman Alkali Baba, has disclosed that between January – November, 2022 the force has successfully rescued eight hundred and sixty-five (865) victims of kidnapping and arrested three hundred and eighty-three (383) kidnapping suspects.
Similarly, a total of nine hundred and twenty-three (923) armed robbery suspects; three hundred and thirty-five (335) murder suspects; and four hundred and seventy-three (473) suspected cultists were also apprehended.
“During these internal security operations, we recovered a total of one thousand, one hundred and twenty-five (1,125) assorted firearms, and ten thousand, six hundred and fifty-three (10,653) assorted calibre of ammunition. We also apprehended six hundred and ninety-six (696) terror elements, bandits and secessionists; and two hundred and eighty-four (284) pipeline vandals across the country.”
Baba, said this in his remarks at a meeting with strategic Police officer in Abuja , that following the approval for the establishment of the Nigeria Police National Cybercrime Centre with the support of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and the deployment of highly trained police cybercrime operatives to the newly established Unit, we have also enhanced our cybercrime investigation capacity leading to the arrest of a total of four hundred and seventy-eight 478 cybercrime suspects, while we continually deploy our unique INTERPOL tools to monitor and apprehend transnational criminal fugitives.
According to him the meeting is being convened to evaluate the Force performance in the outgoing year; “dissect operational challenges in relation to our policing mandate; review and perfect our election security governance plans, ahead of the 2023 General Elections; and collectively set our policing goals as we usher in the Year 2023. “
Adding that the outgoing year presented sets of security challenges which at some point evolved to threaten the security order and national cohesion of the country.
” Some of these threats relate to flashes of violent campaigns by terrorists and bandits in the Northern geopolitical Zones; violent secessionist activities in the South East and adjoining States by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB, Eastern Security Network ESN and other pockets of factions of IPOB all of which were bent on engaging non-constitutional means to threaten the legitimacy of Government at all levels in the country.
“Other highly organized crimes that the Force had to grapple with in the outgoing Year include kidnapping, armed robbery, cultism, illegal firearms trafficking and proliferation, cybercrime, gender-based violence and other transnational crimes.”
Specifically, he said in spite of the enormity of these threats, particularly during the early part of the Year, he is delighted to note that with the review of the Force operational strategies, acquisition of new, specialized operational assets, enhanced intelligence capacity, more purposeful police-community relations framework, enhanced trust and stronger synergy between the Force, Military, the intelligence community and other security agencies and above all, the sacrifice, courage, loyalty and dedication of personnel of the Force across all ranks, we confronted the threats frontally, gallantly took the battle to the doorsteps of the criminal elements, and successfully stabilised the internal security order as the year winds down.
He said that all these major breakthroughs would not have been achieved without the loyalty and leadership skills of all of you here seated.
“For this, I specially salute your courage and commend you all for supporting my leadership and aiding the process of restoring the primacy of the Nigeria Police Force within the internal security framework of the country. I trust that you shall continue to march shoulder to shoulder with my leadership towards building on the gains we have recorded so far in our onslaught against criminal elements.”