PRESS BRIEFING BY CP. MUSA KIMO, UNVAILING THE ANNUAL ACHIVEMENTS FOR YEAR 2015 RECORDED BY THE RIVERS STATE POLICE COMMAND AT THE POLICE STATE HEADQUARTERS, MOSCOW ROAD, PORT HARCOURT ON 07thJANUARY, 2016
Gentlemen of the Press.
It is with great pleasure I welcome you to our first press briefing in the year 2016. I purposely called you to share with you the exploits recorded by the Rivers State Command in the year 2015.
Let me start by applauding the good people of Rivers State for their enviable and uncommon understanding, support and cooperation in our collective drive to stem the tide of criminal activities in the State.
It is with great pleasure I welcome you to our first press briefing in the year 2016. I purposely called you to share with you the exploits recorded by the Rivers State Command in the year 2015.
Let me start by applauding the good people of Rivers State for their enviable and uncommon understanding, support and cooperation in our collective drive to stem the tide of criminal activities in the State.
I am particularly thrilled by the very high level of maturity, and security consciousness displayed by the people by way of divulging timely and actionable information to the police.
Consequently, I urges for similar level of people’s cooperation, support and understanding to the Command in the year 2016. I also enjoin the good people of Rivers State to ever remain calm, hopeful, confident and trusting in our ability to diligently discharge our constitutional mandate of ensuring public peace and security as well as upholding democratic tenets and freedom for the people.
However, permit me to in synopsis state the achievements recorded within the eventful year under review as follows:-
Ø No. of suspected armed robbers arrested – 187
Ø No. of armed robberies foiled – 98
Ø No. of bank robberies foiled – 7
Ø No. of suspected armed robbers fatally wounded – 98
Ø No. of suspected kidnappers arrested – 329
Ø No. of suspected kidnappers fatally wounded – 145
Ø No. of kidnapped victims rescued – 337
Ø No. of suspected cultists arrested – 375
Ø No. of rape/defilement suspects arrested – 13
Ø No. of firearms recovered :-
i. AK 47 rifles –80
ii. Pump action guns – 123
iii. Locally made pistols – 4251
iv. Short guns – 349
v. Double barrel guns – 78
vi. Single barrel guns – 31
vii. Assault rifle – 56
viii. Locally made long guns – 92
ix. English pistol – 16
x. Rocket propelled grenade – 1
xi. General purpose machine gun – 1
Ø No. of assorted ammunition recovered – 11,917
Ø IED materials recovered – 10
Ø No. of cartridges recovered – 9945
Ø No. of assorted vehicles recovered – 101
Ø Amount of money recovered – N137,000,000.00
It is pertinent at this juncture to unveil to you the new official regalia of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) men. The rebranded uniform is an idea conceived, executed and was recently launched by the Inspector General of Police, Solomon E. Arase, MPN, fdc purposely for it to be in tune with nature of the squad’s job and to eradicate complaints of mistaken identity.
Lastly, I will continue to appeal to members of the public for improved partnership with the police to stamp out criminal from the state. Our doors will continue to be opened to all. When you see something, don’t keep quiet, say something by calling the following police distress lines 08032003514, 08028915460, 08028915462 and 08160723892, please.
