BAUCHI –– AS more and more towns and villages in Bauchi and other states continue to enlist and engage the services of local vigilante groups to combat crime in preference to police protection, the commissioner of police in the Bauchi state police command Alhaji Muktar Abbas has given insight into why the police rely on vigilante groups in some cases.
Speaking with newsmen in his office, the police boss said the police realized that the local hunters live with the people in the villages and were familiar with the terrain more than the police, hence a need to use them in combating crime, particularly in fighting the bandits.
He said the police did not however allow them to make arrest or operate independently for some obvious reasons. He said they (hunters) work hand in hand with the police to make arrest and to attack bandits in most cases.
According to him, ““the police live in Barracks but the vigilante or local hunters live among the people, they know who is who in their domain, hence the police needed to liaise with them in the crime fighting.””
He commended the state leader of the vigilante groups, Alhaji Ali Kura whom he said had assisted the police in most of their successful onslaughts against the bandits in the state and outside the state.
He said with support of the hunters, the command has been able to record successes in most of the crime battle which so far led to the killing of over 40 suspected robbers in less than two months in the state.
Vanguard investigations revealed that most of the towns and villages now have formidable vigilante team with their commander who now patrol and keep vigil all through the night following the upsurge in crime of late.
The preference of the vigilante or local hunters to the police, by some communities in the state was informed by the application of some diabolical means by most of the bandits.
It was gathered that some of the bandits use charm to operate and most often they beat police to their operations even if the police were around . In some cases even if the police see them and shoot, their bullets would be of no effect as some of them have anti bullet charm. It was further learnt that the local hunters among whom are retired solders and police were experienced in the art, hence they match them charm for charm, thus they become the people’s delight.
According to sources, most of the arrests made by the police were facilitated by these hunters who usually give robbers hot chases and surrounded them regardless of their sophisticated weapons.
