AIG Hassan calls for aggressive intelligence gathering to stop crime

By OKOSUN OKHUELEIGBE

The Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone 2, Onikan, AIG Bala Hassan has said that the Police must increase their level of intelligence to make sure that criminals are stopped from carrying out heinous crimes against the citizens.

AIG Bala Hassan who spoke with our reporter on Thursday when he visited the scene of Wednesday’s robbery attack at FESTAC Town of two commercials banks, vowed that the Nigerian Police will do everything possible to arrest the criminals with a view to bringing them to justice.

“It is our duty to ensure that the criminals are brought to justice within the shortest possible time. That is the only way the heart of Lagosians will be at peace. We must do our best to stop a repeat of an ugly incident of this nature.”

On equipping the marine police, AIG Hassan said, ” You can equip them but there is no way you can cover the vulnerable areas. Therefore, there is the need for us to be on guard and ensure we corporate with other security agencies and members of the public to get information that could stop their operations.

“They must have gone to drinking joint; somebody would have seen them. If you had reported to the Commissioner of Police that you saw some people in suspicious manner drinking and planning robbery operation, they would have been arrested.

“We must increase our level of intelligence to make sure that this thing doesn’t happen again.
That the robber were on military uniform does not mean they were uniform men, the purpose of that was to create an atmosphere of intimidation so that they will be able to carry out their operation.

On police response, the AIG added, “If we had followed the way they (criminals) did, there would have be a lot of causalities because this is a built up area from the bank and the neighbouring community. The important thing now is for the robbers to be arrested and bring them to justice,” AIG Hassan reiterated.

He appealed to Nigerians to avail the police of timely information that would help the force to reduce crime to the barest minimum. “Any suspicious person must be reported to the police,” he added.

At the Lagoon that served as entrance and exit point for the robbers, Ajibade, who sells at the market located in the area said the robbers forced them to lay down threatening to kill anyone that disobeys their order. To make sure that no one made any phone contact, they positioned some people to watch over them while others went for the operation