Mr Usman Gwary, the Commissioner of Police in Zamfara, has assured the people that the police command is on top of the crime situation in the state, regardless of the recent killings in some areas.
He gave the assurance in Gusau at a news conference held on Tuesday over the spate of killings by gunmen in some parts of the state.
Gwary stressed that the command had been working to ensure that normalcy returned to the affected areas, where gunmen killed 10 vigilantes.
“We have been strategising and putting our intelligence gathering together but you know we cannot make some of our plans public so as not to jeopardise our operations,” he said.
“Just two days ago, I deployed three pick-up vans with heavily-armed mobile and regular policemen to the troubled area on Zurmi-Katsina Road; they will continue to mount surveillance there until we are certain that there is no more problem,’’ he, however, added.
“We are hopeful that the gunmen, who attacked and killed 10 members of the vigilance group, will soon be arrested and this is based on our intelligence gathering.’’
The police chief appealed to the people to assist the police with useful information about suspected movements of criminals even before they perpetrated their crime “so that the police can quickly move in and tackle the situation.’’
Gwary, however, lamented that some criminal hideouts in the state were difficult to penetrate by the police because of the dearth of access roads and communications network in such areas.
“It will be suicidal to insist that the police should go and make arrests in such hideouts when they do not know the areas the way the criminals do,’’ he added.
Besides, Malam Muhammadu, the Ward Head of the Tudun Wada area of Gusau, said that he would soon begin a house-to-house search of single expectant mothers, as part of efforts to tackle the growing menace of abandoned babies in the neighbourhood.
Muhammadu, who disclosed his intention while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gusau on Tuesday, said that a newborn was abandoned near a toilet soak-away on Tuesday.
“The incidence of abandoned babies, many of whom were found dead, has now become common in this area and it is very worrisome to us.
“The latest one was discovered early today by a Qur’anic school pupil, while the mother could have given birth to the baby at the location, as there were blood stains and parts of the placenta in the area,’’ he said.
Umar said residents of the area assisted the police in fishing out the remains of the baby after which the body had been taken to the Federal Medical Center (FMC), Gusau, for certification and burial.
He said that he was aware of about 10 cases of abandoned babies in the area within the last one year.
Umar pledged to collaborate with elders in the area in efforts to identify pregnant single ladies, adding that the police would also be duly informed about the ladies to facilitate their monitoring until childbirth.
He, nonetheless, urged parents to give their children proper upbringing so as to tackle the growing menace of unwanted pregnancies.
Confirming the incident, SP Abubakar Shika, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in-charge of Tudun Wada Division, said that investigations into the matter had commenced.
He gave the assurance that with the help of residents of the area, “such inhuman mothers will soon be apprehended.’’
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