Police tackles Abuja-Kaduna highway crimes with air assets

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba, has said the police have deployed air assets for aerial surveillance of the Abuja-Kaduna highway.   The police boss explained that the assets would support ground police teams in the fight against kidnapping and banditry.   The IG spoke in Abuja during a meeting with Strategic Police Managers, where the Police Specialised Service Automation Project (POSSAP) was inaugurated.   Baba said the Police had strengthened its ‘Operation Restore Peace’, a Special Anti-Secessionist Operation in the Southeast, with the deployment of more special operational units and assets.   He pledged the determination of the Force to employ appropriate frameworks that would engender a fair, peaceful, secure, and credible electoral process in Ekiti and Osun states as well as the general elections.   “We are currently working on enhancing the capacity of officers of the Force in election security management. I have approved the conduct of an election security management training for police officers ahead of the general elections.   “The training will be delivered in partnership with a training and security consultant with vast experience in election security management,” he said.   TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that the IG hinted that the exercise would hold across the six geopolitical zones and will commence with the Northcentral Zone on August 4 in Abuja.   On the inauguration, he said: “”The POSSAP, as approved by the Federal Government, is intended to ensure the standardisation of the process of offering police services.   “It is also to guarantee accountability in the process and act as a source of complementary revenue which will be channelled to augment the personnel welfare and other administrative and operational needs of the Force.”   He said the initiative was in line with the Strategic Revenue Growth Initiative (SRGI) of the Federal Government, which aimed at improving revenue sufficiency for critical agencies.   On notable records under his leadership, he said: “From January 2022 till date, the Force has successfully effected the arrest of 328 terrorists/bandits, 325 armed robbery suspects, 339 suspects of kidnapping, and 247 suspected cultists.   “Similarly, a total of 307 kidnapped victims were rescued unhurt, while 510 sophisticated firearms and 8,906 ammunition were recovered.”