Katsina police kill notorious bandit in gun battle

OPERATIVES of the Katsina State police have killed one Abdullahi Ummi, believed to be a notorious bandit, in a gun battle. The command’s spokesman, Isa Gambo, disclosed this while briefing newsmen in Katsina on Thursday. Gambo said the bandit hailed from Gullu, a hamlet in a forest in Yankwashi Local Government Area of Jigawa State.

He said Ummi, aged 50, kidnapped an 80-year-old woman, Hajiya Hassana Zubairu of Sandamu Local Government Area of Katsina State and demanded a ransom of N500 million from her children. “Based on credible intelligence, our men swung into action and trailed the criminal in the forest where luck ran out on him.

“While trying to escape on a motorcycle with the kidnapped old woman, our officers and men engaged the bandit in a  gun battle where he was subsequently killed,” the police image maker said. According to him, the old woman was kidnapped on June 29 and the police rescued her on July 15. Meanwhile, a member of the Sokoto State House of  Assembly, Sa’idu Ibrahim, has decried frequent attacks by suspected bandits on Sabon Birni Local Government Area of the state.

Ibrahim (APC-Sabon Birni South), at a news conference on Thursday in Sokoto, called on the federal and state governments to take urgent measures in ending the menace. According to him, the situation has continued to worsen the living condition of the people of the area, with more than 10 villages attacked within a week.

He stressed that these attacks had resulted in loss of lives and property in the area. “Today, we have over 500 villages in  Sobon Birni LGA, but as I am talking to you, only the local government headquarters has not experienced the threat of bandits attack. “As such, an estimated number of 35 to 40 per cent of all the people living in those villages have been displaced to the local government headquarters for safety.

“This situation has continued to generate more harm to the livelihood of the people, while the bandits continue to operate without any fear of security agencies. “Moreover, anytime the gunmen wish to launch an attack on the villages,  they have the courage to serve a letter to the villagers before the time of the attack,” he said.

He added that the situation could not be addressed with only 25 soldiers and seven mobile policemen deployed in the area, while the bandits always come in their hundreds. The lawmaker, however, commended security operatives deployed in the area for their dedication to duty, while appealing for more personnel to assist in addressing the situation.

Ibrahim further called on the state government to empower the local vigilante with modern fighting equipment in order to complement the security agencies in restoring normalcy in the affected areas.