Police explain rise of crime in Jos

Between 2001 and May 2009, civil unrests that led to the loss of thousands of lives and properties have made residents of Jos to now live in fear and the threat that anything can happen to their lives at any moment. The latest civil unrest was the one that followed the November 27, 2008 local […]

Between 2001 and May 2009, civil unrests that led to the loss of thousands of lives and properties have made residents of Jos to now live in fear and the threat that anything can happen to their lives at any moment. The latest civil unrest was the one that followed the November 27, 2008 local government elections, which claimed over 700 lives and billions of naira worth of properties.

After the crisis, security operatives continued to stay in strategic locations, flash points and all nooks and crannies of the state to maintain surveillance and make sure no further crime was committed. The officers, who hitherto went out in joint patrol, have over 50 patrol vehicles, and recently, the state government gave them an additional 70 motorcycles to handle rocky areas and places not accessible to cars.

Even in the face of these security measures, Weekly Trust learned that the police still receive between 20 and 30 distress calls of robberies and activities of hoodlums in Jos almost on a daily basis.

In a very recent incident, three people were reportedly killed, among them a student of the University of Jos named Hamza Umar Adamu and two others who were shot dead at Hwolshe in Jos metropolis. A butcher, Mr Mark Oyetunde, was robbed of two million naira and shot. A staff of PW Construction Company Limited, Mr Johnson, was also shot on the leg by hoodlums when they could not get anything from him. Also, one Mr Babatunde, the Medical Director of Godiya Clinic, Dr Alex and Mr Segun Oyelope who’s the zone manager of Oceanic Bank, reported that their SUVs got stolen by hoodlums in the town.

Some students of the University of Jos hostel along Bauchi Ring Road and residents of Tudun Wada, Rikkos and Dilimi  areas also played hosts to unknown gunmen suspected to be armed robbers. The students claimed that the gunmen who always visited them.

The Plateau State Police Commissioner, Mr Gregory Anyangting, said the increase in crime in Plateau State is due to high unemployment, because many people lost their jobs and businesses to the crises.

He said armed robbers don’t sleep and police too will not sleep. “We will make Plateau Statea hot place for them till they relocate to another place,” he said.

The Plateau State Police Public Relations Officer, Mohammed Lerama, and the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Criminal Investigations Department, CID, Mr Femi Oyeleye, attributed the increase in crimes to the high number of guns in the hands of many people. Oyeleye said, “Before the Jos crises, guns were not in the hands of the people, but now, during the crises, there may have been an influx of such arms which made the youths to have illegal arms. Now, however, we have started arresting and recovering the arms from them. Very soon, we will recover all the arms and they will look for something to do,” he said.

Lerama advised the people not to leave the issue of the security of lives and properties to the police alone, saying that people should form vigilante groups and report any suspicious character to the police by calling these distress numbers — 08050375280, 08062956352, 08036919373, 08052848808, 08037241885, and 0803614874. He assured that the police will respond immediately.

Between 10th and 23rd July, the Plateau police paraded 30 suspects held for armed robbery in different parts of the town. Out of the number, three were killed, which confirmed the increase in the activities of criminals in the state. Police also recovered two stolen SUVs, 17 different guns, 32 live ammunitions and cartridges, 28 GSM handsets, laptops, digital cameras and one red Opel saloon car with registration number Kaduna AA 322 ANC suspected to have been stolen.

Another major problem that led to the increase in crime activities is the arms in the hands of youths between the ages of 18 and 30, said Malam Shehu Abdullahi  and Mrs Salamatu Zubairu who are both traders in Jos Terminus Market.

They blamed the politicians and traditional rulers who usually sponsor the youth with arms in order to achieve their political or ethnic agenda, adding that it is the reason why most of the people that police parade are youths between the ages of 19 and 30.

Last month, it was reported that a traditional ruler, the Kanankur of Longvel, Mr Sule Sabo, alias Sarkin Yaki in Shendam Local Government Area of Plateau State, was arrested for alleged gunrunning after a search was conducted in his house through a tip-off from a robbery suspect. Also, firearms of different makes were discovered in his compound and another village in Shendam.

It was equally reported that the case is being investigated by the Force Criminal Investigations Department at the Force Headquarters in Abuja for illegal trafficking of arms. Plateau State police also searched weapons in the house of the former Bauchi State Ggovernor, Ahmad Adamu Mu’azu, and the police command said nothing incriminating was found in the house.

Police Public Relations Officer, Mohammed Lerama, said “Police has the power to search and get information, detectives and intelligence working in the field to get information from the public. We received information that the ammunitions were kept in the house and it’s our duty to search the house under suspicion in order to prove or debunk the allegations. And when police search the house and find nothing incriminating, we then clear the house,” he said.

In order to successfully reduce the activities of criminals in the state, there is the need for security operatives to be up to their responsibilities. They also need to close their eyes and stop collecting the ten and twenty naira on the road and face the challenges before them, because when their minds go to this little amount, definitely many criminals’ cars will pose like genuine passengers and pass with arms within the city without the knowledge of the police.

And the suspects’ comments showed that criminals have started taking advantage of the recent Jos crisis to carry out their acts, since most of the ones arrested were in their hideouts very close to town, in rocks around Jenta Mangoro, Faringada and rocks along Bauchi Road as stated by the police when they paraded the criminals before newsmen in Jos.