The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, has approved the deployment of a helicopter and more policemen to Kogi to check the increasing rate of kidnapping and armed robbery in the state.
Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, while addressing newly-deployed policemen in Lokoja, on Tuesday, said the helicopter was for aerial surveillance.
Among the deployed policemen were members of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad and four detachments of riot policemen.
He said the police had been provided sophisticated arms and that the helicopter had since commenced aerial surveillance of suspected criminal hideouts in the state.
Bello said that it was hoped that kidnapping, armed robbery and other violent crimes in parts of the state would soon be history.
He thanked President Muhammadu Buhari and the IG for their intervention in the state.
The governor said that kidnappers and other criminals would not be allowed to operate in the state as the security agencies had been directed to go after criminals and fish them out.
He also said that local governments in the state had been directed to constitute security committees to support the efforts of the security agencies.
Bello said that the committees, to be made up of traditional hunters, ex-servicemen and other relevant groups, would assist in intelligence gathering.
He said the government would soon embark on job creation programmes in agriculture in order to check youth restiveness and divert youths’ attention from crime.
Bello promised that security of life and property would continue to be a priority of his administration and urged Kogi residents to assist by reporting suspicious movements and people promptly to security agencies.
Earlier, while presenting the helicopter and policemen to the governor, the Commissioner of Police in Kogi, Mr. Usman Yakubu, said a lot would be achieved in the fight against crime with the arrival of the helicopter and policemen.
“With this helicopter, we can easily track down kidnappers or robbers operating in the state,” he said.