Police operatives attached to the Mabushi Division on Sunday arrested 40 suspected members of a criminal syndicate terrorizing the residents of Gishiri Village.
A statement on Monday, 10th April 2023 signed by the FCT Police Public Relations Officer, SP Josephine Adeh, in a reaction to a video of police officers filmed to be applying disproportionate force in suppressing suspected gang members who revolted after being arrested in an intelligence-led raid at Mabushi Divisional police headquarters said that it is pertinent to state that contrary to the narrative in circulation, the suspects were not randomly arrested, but were arrested in an intelligence raid necessitated by complaints from three independent sources of jurisdiction over the Gishiri village.
She said that arrest was based on a complaint received that some alleged ex-convicts namely Awalu, Balo, and Baba Ali, had masterminded and inflicted hardship, panic, and apprehension on residents through their criminal acts including but not limited to the following as quoted in one of the complaints, “consumption and peddling of illicit drugs, intimidation, attack, assault on innocent citizens and dispossessing them of their valuables; possession and usage of dangerous weapons both day and night, with reference to the incident of 30th March 2023 where over ten people were stabbed and brutalized with cutlasses and many vehicles destroyed; they have no regard for elders and leaders of the community; creating a bad image for the community; they have no respect to custom and tradition; they attack and obstruct Policemen or vigilante from arresting any suspect when the need arises”
SP Adeh said that consequent upon the above, and in ensuring that residents have a peaceful Easter celebration, the operatives of the Mabushi Divisional Police Headquarters having processed the intelligence swung into action at about 12:30 am to 02:30 am on Sunday, 9th of April 2023 and apprehended a total number of 40 suspects from carefully marked black spots.
“The suspects however didn’t fail to live up to their reputation as they were repulsive and violent all through the process of arrest and at the point of statement taking at the Division. The cut-to-suit narrative in the video in circulation was a scene of police officers trying to apply minimum force in restoring order to the distorted peace the arrest of the suspect brought to the Station.
“While the proportionality of the applied force is in question and has amounted to unprofessional conduct, the Officers involved have been duly noted for sanction, the Commissioner of Police FCT Police Command and the leaders of the Kishiri community have commended the Division and its leadership for promptly responding to public outcry and restoring order to the Community. The suspects raided were immediately screened and those with prima facie cases will be charged to court upon conclusion of the investigations.
“While round-the-clock surveillance continues in the area to ensure that the restored order is sustained, members of the public are enjoined to disregard contrary and inciting accounts of the incident, remain law-abiding, and report suspicious activities in their neighborhood to the Police, the statement concluded.
