5 policemen detained for renting rifle to kidnappers

OWERRI — Five policemen, serving in Imo State police
command, including the armourer of New Owerri police
division, are now in detention over how one of the
AK-47 rifles officially issued for guard duties, ended
up in the hands of dare devil kidnappers operating in
the state.
Confirming the develpoment to Vanguard in a
telephone interview yesterday, the state
Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Musa Katsina,
said while four of the five policemen were explaining
their involvement in the sordid act, the armourer is
being tried for negligent conduct.
Katsina said: “It is true that I ordered the arrest,
detention and interrogation of four serving policemen
of this command for allegedly renting one of the rifles
assigned to them to dare devil kidnappers.”
According to the CP, all the police officers, including
the armourer, arrested in connection with the sordid
finding are now facing orderly room trial.
He said: “I have constituted a panel to try them. They
have been given the opportunity to explain and
anybody found to be involved in the crime would be
made to face the full weight of the law.”
Giving a graphic account of how the police recovered
the weapon from fleeing kidnappers, Katsina said the
command’s Ambush Squad gave a hot chase to a
gang of kidnappers and in the process, they
abandoned the gun in their operational vehicle and
ran away.
“When the vehicle was thoroughly searched, the
AK-47 rifle belonging to the command was recovered.
We traced the point of issue to New Owerri police
division and that is how the armourer came into the
picture,” the CP said.
Katsina said policemen are given weapons to protect
the citizens and not to use it to terrorize the people
they are supposed to protect.
“The four were officially assigned the weapons for
guard duties. The other three policemen never
reported to anybody that their colleague whose
weapon was later recovered from kidnappers, was not
reporting for duty” the CP said.
Vanguard investigations revealed that the four
policemen were posted to the residence of a retired
CP (names withheld), while Katsina has since reported
the incident to the Inspector General of Police.