A joint security operation in Taraba State has led to the death of 10 Fulani militiamen that held the state and the neighbouring Adamawa State to the jugular.
Armed robbery suspectsAt a joint press briefing at the Taraba State Police Command headquarters in Jalingo, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Operations, Falaye Olalayi and Brigade Commander, 23 Army Brigade Yola, Brig. Gen. B. A. Mohammed, said the bandits were killed during an exchange of gunfire.
Olalayi told journalists that men of the Nigerian Army and the police got intelligence that bandits have camped in large numbers at a border village between Adamawa and Taraba, terrorizing people around the area and quickly mobilized their men to the area.
According to him, the bandits engaged the joint army and police team deployed to the area around Katibu – Nega axis but were overpowered by the joint police/military team, killing 10 of them in the process.
He said: “Ten of them were killed and exhibits such as guns of different kinds and four motorcycles were recovered from them. One suspect was arrested while others escaped with bullet wounds into the bush.”
Olalayi said that the command was committed to making dates unbearable for armed bandits who take pleasure in wrecking havoc to innocent people around the region.
“In our commitment to ensuring the protection of lives and property in Taraba state, we have resolved to give armed bandits terrorizing the people of Taraba State a thorough fight”.
A suspect, who was arrested, told journalists in an interview that he was arrested by the military in Dung village in Adamawa State with a dane gun on his way home from a village where he went with his friends to pay a condolence visit.
Items recovered and paraded alongside the 10 dead bodies of the bandits included three AK47 rifles, two single barrel guns, one double barrel gun, one G3 rifle, two cutlasses and four boxer motorcycles.
