Kankara: Small town turns big target for robbers
Mr. Collins (not real name), a businessman in Kankara local government are of Katsina State was a victim of armed robbery and his New Year happiness turned into sorrow on the first day of the year 2012. He was robbed of N520, 000 at gunpoint by a six-man gang that stormed his house at midnight. […]
Mr. Collins (not real name), a businessman in Kankara local government are of Katsina State was a victim of armed robbery and his New Year happiness turned into sorrow on the first day of the year 2012. He was robbed of N520, 000 at gunpoint by a six-man gang that stormed his house at midnight. “They also raped my wife and three other ladies in my house during the operation,” he told Weekly Trust, adding that they were all armed.
Collins continued: “When they came, they ordered me to surrender the N520,000 that I sold some goods in the market. I was surprised when they mentioned the exact amount of the money I had. This indicated that there was an informant among them. After I gave them the money, they also asked me to show them where I keep my money. I told them that I had no other money.” They proceeded to beat him to unconsciousness with clubs and sticks.
Three days after Collins’ traumatic experience, on January 4, a gang of armed robbers raided Katsinawa and Unguwar Garaje villages, killing two people. They shot two people in Katsinawa village and carted away property worth hundreds of thousands of naira from the two shops they broke into. Malam Yahaya Sulaiman, a survivor of the incident who sustained a gunshot wound on his lap, told Weekly Trust that they were patrolling the village when they suddenly heard gunshots from Unguwar Garaje’s direction. “We initially ran into a nearby bush and hid. After some minutes we returned to our village and continued with the patrol.”
While patrolling, he added that they sighted a car moving in the direction of the town. “One of flashed a torch-light at the vehicle and one of the robbers insulted us and immediately opened fire on us.” That’s when Sulaiman was hit on his thigh. “I immediately fell down, but I managed to crawl into an abandoned building. I remained there until morning when my friends came and took me to Kankara General Hospital,” he recalled.
At Unguwar-Garaje, Weekly Trust gathered that the gunmen did not take anything in the village after killing one Alhaji Garaje. A brother to the deceased, who pleaded for anonymity, said the robbers arrived at about 12pm. “They began to shoot in the air. We panicked and ran,” he recalled, adding that a neighbor who peeped through a wall narrowly escaped death when one of the robbers fired at him but missed. “They did not shoot Alhaji, but they beat him severely and after they left we rushed him to the hospital, where he died even before the doctors could attend to him.” He lamented that the painful part is that while the police were interrogating residents, robbers were busy at a village a kilometre away.
However, nine days after Alhaji Garaje was killed, a gang of robbers suspected to be those who visited the area earlier, went back to the village and carted away 40 sheep belonging to the deceased. They also stormed another village Ba-Goma and launched a house-to-house operation same day.
Weekly Trust learnt that robbery is not a new thing to the once-quiet community. Last year alone, over 30 robberies took place at different locations in the area. Ten robberies were carried out in July 2011 while five were in August, all last year. It was gathered that on July 3, 2011, armed robbers blocked the Kankara-Sheme road and robbed people. And on the fourth day of the same month, they robbed motorists at three different occasions. They operated along Kankara-Katsina highway in the morning, and then carried out another one in the evening.
On July 5 and 7, 2011, robbers also operated along Kankara-Sheme road, while in the night they launched a house-house operation of sorts at Yargoje village where they killed two persons. Two days later, Weekly Trust learnt, they launched another operation for two days in Kankara. Again, they returned on July 19, last year to block the Kankara-Katsina highway and rob motorists. This went on and on, with residents almost losing count of incidents.
A resident of Kankara who pleaded anonymity, told Weekly Trust that armed robbery in Kankara was peculiar, alleging that the robbers terrorizing the area must be residing in the area. “We are blaming the Sarkin Pauwa, our District Head, Alhaji Muhammad Lawal. Whenever we take [the robbers] to the police or court, the man will ensure that they were freed. Sometime he would detail his son Alhaji Idi to hire a lawyer to defend them in court. In fact, we are suspecting a connection.”
But the Sarkin Pauwa, Alhaji Muhammad Lawal, disputed the allegations leveled against him, saying: “I have been doing my best as traditional leader to curtail the situation. Whenever we receive information about robberies, we inform the police, because that is all we can do. Robberies have, however, reduced in the area. We will continue to do our best to improve security in the area.”
The Katsina State Police Command Public Relations officer, ASP Abubakar Ibrahim Muhammad said the police command was not aware of the allegations made by the community that robbery was on the rise in Kankara local government area. “We do not have anything like that on record,” he said. “It is just an allegation by the community. We didn’t receive anything like that from either individual or group. In fact, it is the police that make series of arrests of armed robbers.”
While Muhammad added that the police had recovered guns, cash and other dangerous weapons from an armed robber, as well as having dislodged a gang of armed robbers in the area, residents continue to sleep with one eye open, in case it’s time for the robbers’ latest onslaught.