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.