Sub-regional intelligence gathering aided Evans’ arrest’

*IGP pledges more collaborations to check criminality

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, has attributed the arrest of Chukwujeme Onwamadike, popularly known as Evans, largely to information sharing

and intelligence cooperation among the police services in West Africa.

In this regard, he noted that “information sharing was crucial to tackling the menace of trans-border crimes in the sub-region.” A statement by Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), CSP Jimoh Moshood, quoted the IGP as saying when he delivered a paper titled, “The role of Nigeria Police in national security and its contributions in West Africa” at the ongoing West Africa International Security Conference in Accra, the Ghanaian capital.

According to him, “through such an exchange, we were able to nab a Ghanaian/Nigerian kidnapper two weeks ago, after evading arrest for many years.” He continued: “For several years, Evans terrorised Nigerians and nationals of many countries across West Africa. Efforts to apprehend him did not yield desired results until we spread our search net wider.”

Idris, who solicited closer ties among security agencies in the sub-region, emphasized the need to improve the method of monitoring and surveillance, especially within border and coastal police units.

The Nigerian chief cop called for improved communication capabilities among intelligence gathering outfits in West Africa, urging mutual support for the plugging of loopholes usually exploited by criminals.

He revealed that the Nigeria Police Force has 300,000 personnel in 127 area commands and 5,303 divisions, adding that the force has consistently contributed to the stability and peace processes in Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS) nations and those under United Nations (UN) mandates.

Idris further said: “The Nigeria Police Force trained 250 Liberian personnel in 2005 and has consistently offered training slots to officers from The Gambia and Sierra Leone at the Police Staff College, Jos and the Police Academy, Wudil.

“We also trained 100 officers from the Republic of Niger on mobile police combat in 1998. At the end of the training, Nigeria donated trucks, riot equipment and tear smoke to the Nigerien government.”

He said the police also helped to stabilise Guinea Bissau in 2012, when the military struck and truncated its democracy. “Our police personnel remained there until democracy was restored in 2014,” Idris stated.

He expressed Nigeria’s readiness to consistently cooperate with police formations in other countries to track down criminals, pointing out that such mutual cooperation has become more necessary as technology has reduced the world to a small village.