Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
A joint military and police operation in Taraba on Wednesday killed armed 10 bandits terrorising Taraba and Adamawa states.
At a joint press briefing at the Taraba Police Command headquarters in Jalingo on Thursday, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Operations Falaye Olalayi, accompanied by Brigade Commander, 23 Army Brigade, Yola Brig. Gen. B. A. Mohammed, said the the bandits were killed during an exchange of gunfire.
Olalayi told journalists that men of the Nigerian Army and the Nigerian Police received intelligence that the armed bandits had camped in large numbers at a border village between Adamawa and Taraba, terrorising people around the area. The joint force responded by mobilising men to the area.
According to him, the bandits engaged the joint Army and Police team deployed to the area around the Katibu-Nega axis, but were overpowered by the team, who killed 10 of them in the process.
“Ten of them of were killed and exhibits such as guns of different kinds and four motorcycles were recovered from them,” said Olalayi
“One suspect was arrested, while others escaped with bullet wounds into the bush.”
Olalayi said that the Command was committed to making life unbearable for armed bandits who take pleasure in harassing the innocent people of the region.
“In our commitment to ensure the protection of lives and property in Taraba State, we have resolved to give armed bandits terrorizing the people of Taraba State a thorough fight,” the Deputy Commissioner said.
He urged the public to look out for persons with bullet wounds and report them to the police and other security agencies, while soliciting the cooperation of the public in tackling security challenges in the state.
The suspect who was arrested told journalists in an interview that he was arrested by the military in Dung village in Adamawa State with a dane gun on his way home from a village where he went with his friends to pay a condolence visit.
Items recovered and paraded alongside the 10 dead bodies of the bandits included 3 AK47 rifles, 2 single barrel guns, one double barrel gun, one G3 rifle, two cutlasses and four boxer motorcycles.