The Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mr Ibrahim Idris, has deployed additional three units of Police Mobile Force (PMF) to Birane village in Zurmi Local Government Area of Zamfara, to forestall further loss of lives.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that bandits suspected to be cattle rustlers had on Feb. 14 killed 18 persons in Birane village.

NAN also reports that seven PMF units were recently deployed to the state to augment the personnel of the Police Command there.

A statement by the Force spokesman, CSP Jimoh Moshood, said that Idris gave the directive after a visit to the state to carry out on-the-spot assessment of the incident.

He said that the I-G, who was accompanied by the AIG Zone 10, Sokoto, and commissioners of police in the zone, held a stakeholders’ meeting with the people.

Moshood said that that a joint investigation team headed by the Assistant Inspector -General of Police in charge of intelligence at the Force Headquarters was also dispatched to the state.

He said that the team was under a definite and strict mandate to arrest and bring to justice the perpetrators of the killings and investigate the remote and direct causes of the mayhem.

“They are further directed by the I-G to arrest and disarm all suspected bandits, militias and criminal groups in possession of prohibited firearms and restricted weapons in the region,“he said.

Moshood said that the I-G had also placed Commissioners of Police, their Supervising Assistant Inspectors-General of Police and all Personnel of the Force in States Contiguous to Zamfara on red alert.

According to him, normalcy has been restored in the area and the situation is under control.

The spokesman assured the people of Zamfara and other states in the country of adequate protection of their lives and property.

“The Force, therefore, encourages them to go about their lawful activities without fear or apprehension but support and cooperate with the Police personnel deployed in their localities,” he said. (NAN)

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