By Auwal Mohammed
Gombe (Nigeria) — Police Command in Gombe has paraded nine suspected armed robbers, alleged to have been terrorizing people in parts of the state including Dogo Ruwa village, Kuri Village and Gombe metropolis among others.State Commissioner of Police, Austin Iwar while parading the suspects said, two suspects, along one other, who died in the cause of the arrest confessed to have committed the crime in Oando, MRS, Total, Nasara, Conoil filling stations in Gombe metropolis. They were arrested with a Honda Civic car with registration number AH 188 SKK.
He added that two of them from Bauchi State and one other from Sokoto state were arrested in the last two weeks, having been robbing petrol filling stations in the last five months.
Shedding more light on behalf of victims of the robbery attacks, Chairman of Petroleum Dealers Association in Gombe, Mohammed Bappa, said they lost three persons during the robbery attacks within the last five months.
The other seven, according to the police, specialize in blocking people around Kuri and Dogon Ruwa axis of Yamaltu-Deba and Kaltungo Local Government Area of the State.
They were paraded with three dane guns, two axes, one locally made pistol, two cutlasses, one Haojue Suzuki motorcycle, one simba generator, two knives and two swords.
The Commissioner said all the arrests were as a result of a tip-off from members of the public and that all the suspects would be arraigned in court immediately, having made confessional statements.
Meanwhile, the command has began a four-day Basic Community Policing Skills Workshop to 23 Divisional Police Officers (DPO’s) aimed at deepening their knowledge and skills in Community Policing.
Mr. Iwar while declaring the workshop open at the State Police Command Headquarters stated that, for the Police to effectively and efficiently protect the lives and property of the citizenry, it must work in partnership with all stakeholders.
He said this is more so that, while the Police cannot be everywhere, the communities exist everywhere.
According to him, “The State Police Command has decided to re-invigorate Police Partnership Approach to Policing with the commencement of this training in line with the policy directives of the inspector-General of Police Ibrahim K Idris, whose administration is people centred policing style as the cardinal focus”.
“The essence of this workshop is to refresh officers’ competence in basic policing skills, predicated on practical Police Community Partnership Approach to policing components, for improved service delivery in line with the community safety and crime prevention strategy of the Gombe State Police Command”, Mr. Iwar explained.
