Recently, dare-devil armed robbers numbering nine, and fully armed with deadly weapons including AK 47 refles, attacked and killed the director of finance and account with the Federal Medical Centre, Katsina, Alhaji Kabir Yakubu, 55, in his residence at Tudun Mattawalle area, an outskirt of Katsina municipal.
Eyewitness account had it that the robbers, nine in number and allegedly cladded in military uniforms, stormed the house around 3 am and operated for close to an hour after snuffing the precious live out of their victim and in the process, injuring one of his sons and a security man in the house.
An eyewitness, Baba Ado told Leadership Sunday that the deceased director shot his gun to scare the robbers but “the robbers who retreated afterwards, hid themselves and shot him in the neck and forehead, and in the process, they killed him instantly.
“They ordered me to take them to his room where they ransacked everything in the room before leaving with handsets, monies and jewelleries,” Baba Ado, in his late forties, who sustained injuries from the torture he received in their hands, he said.
In what could be mildly referred to as traces of the men of the underworld, bullet holes were seen conspicuously in most of the houses close to the late finance director’s residence, believed to be the outcome of sporadic shooting by the armed bandits.
Residents of the area said they heard sporadic gunshots that lasted for over thirty minutes as the robbers were said to have shot randomly in the air, obviously to scare people away. The suspected robbers also pumped bullets on a police patrol vehicle after what could pass for an exchange of fire between them and the police.
The Tudun Mattawalle incidence which left many residents more confused than one could ever imagine, was one among many series of robbery incidences in recent times in the state. This robbery incidence was coming shortly after some dare-devil robbers raided Dankama Market on 21st of March, 2012, killing not fewer than four people and injuring scores of hapless citizens who were at the market to do their legitimate business.
The robbery attacks in the state, those unreported not withstanding, appeard to be rampant and in rapid succession in different parts of the state. On the 1st of March,2012, the armed men, numbering 15, raided a shopping mall in Mani town and carted away undisclosed sums of money. The main attack was preceded by a similar attack at a shop I Dutsinma on the 15th of February, where monies and valuables worth millions of naira were allegedly carted away.
Indeed, residents of Katsina state have continued to lament the increasing rate of armed robbery in different parts of the state with areas around the Katsina-Zamfara border being the worst hit.?
Another worst hit area is the popular Dajin Rugu (Rugu Forest) which borders Katsina and Zamfara states and which has been the hide-out of criminals and armed men who terrorize travelers. Of recent, the area had witnessed series of robbery attacks as a result of which a joint security operation team was deployed to patrol the area.
Only recently, armed robbers raided Maigora village of Faskari local government area and carted away monies and valuables just as they killed the forest officer of the local government, known by the locals as Sarkin Daji, Abdulqadir Maigora allegedly for being police informant.
It was gathered that the suspected armed robbers raided the residence of the murdered forest officer in Maigora village around 2 am and shot him severally before escaping. The robbers also allegedly killed one Umaru Getai in the early morning attack at the village, a sleeping community.
Equally disturbing is the widespread incidence of car theft in Katsina municipal. Scores of persons have, in recent times, fallen victims to car thieves who appeared to be using well sophisticated method in snatching residents, cars.
Reacting to the rising wave of crime in the state, a retired teacher and seasoned educationist who does not want his name on print, attributed it to high level of unemployment even as he faulted residents for failing to volunteer vital information to the security operatives.
“Now more than ever before, we must cultivate the habit of supporting police and other security operatives by offering vital information on the hide-out of criminals because these criminals live with us and among us.”
Worried by the rising trend of crime, the state police command recently imposed ban on the use of okada at nights. The police, in a statement made available to the press, outlawed use of motorcycles in the state beyond 10 pm insisting that the measure was aimed at nipping in the bud, the rising wave of crime in the state.
Few weeks after the police imposed the ban and with the assurance that it would intensify patrols, it could still not be said without mincing words, that crime rate has reduced in the state.
Obviously disturbed by the trend and determined to address the challenges, the Katsina state police command has adopted a new crime fighting strategy nicknamed “inter-cross patrol” which according to the police public relations officer, ASP Shehu Muhammad Koko, had yielded positive results leading to the arrest of some notorious “criminals terrorizing innocent citizens in different parts of the state.”
ASP Koko had said the new CP, Abdullahi Magaji arrived with new crime fighting innovations which has led to the arrest of some criminals in the state.
According to the police spokesman, the command has arrested six different groups of suspected criminals through the new patrol system initiated by the new state police commissioner, Abdullahi Magaji.
Koko said the new approach had yielded positive results within a week of the new command’s boss, assumption of office and noted that the six suspected groups of armed robbers were arrested at Faskari, Kurfi, Katsina and along Jibia-Maradi road bordering Niger Republic.
“The suspects were arrested in possession of assorted rifles, dane guns, cutlasses, knifes and motor-cycles being used for their operations”, Koko in a statement, said.
Even as the police re-strategised to combat the challenges posed by the rising wave of armed robbery along with other threats to security like the activities of street urchins in the state, residents have continued to stress the need for providing vital information to the security so as to help tackle crime.