No time has Imo State been fortunate to be bequeathed with a Commissioner of Police than now. It is not in doubt that on assumption of office as the commissioner of Police, Muhammed Musa Katsina proved that he possesses the experience, strategy and will-power to deal with crimes that defied some past commissioners of Police posted to Imo State.
His timing and approach are like a thunderbolt. From armed robbery, kidnapping, assassinations; bearing and selling baby crime and the arrest of a retired Principal, Dr. Chimezie Bede Osigwe who dried and wardrobed his mother Jior ten years and to other sundry crimes, Mohammed Musa Katsina skill is definitely unsettling hardened criminals who make life miserable for our people. With all frontal strategies high profile crimes are evidently on the decrease.
it is good to recall what it used to be few years past. Crimes such as confidence tricks and magic were common on Douglas Road, at the front of the present Owerri Shopping Plaza and at the gate of Development Secondary School Owerri just to mention few places. At these spots, gang of tricksters headed by a hunch-back mesmerized and hoodwinked their victims who made withdrawals from banks with snakes. Under such scenario and just a stampede instigated by their members, people and passers-by were dispossessed of their cash and valuables. In the evening the same criminals would retire to various loading parks along the road, snatching hand-bags,
pilfering and pick-pocketing. This con business at least varnished within the state capital as soon as democracy came to be.
What I saw on Thursday, 6th June, 2013 is an experience better shared with the crime-buster commissioner Mohammed Katsina. It was at Mbaise Road, precisely opposite the Glorisco Supermarket . On broad daylight, I saw to my amazement that confidence trick business that varnished in the state capital, at least has reared its ugly head again. A young boy in his twenties was swindled of his school fee. An undergraduate, he was dispossessed of the sum of N35,000. While wailing and lamenting, depicting of madness and in pursuit of the extortionist, the criminal’s accomplices swooped on the student to prevent him from catching the thief.
It baffles my imagination why these con-men are said to be show- casing their malevolence to the full glare of residents and passers-by unchallenged. In the case of the student, traders, people kept quiet, aloof and unperturbed for the perpetrators to have a field day. A man who watched and felt the agony of the student, mustered courage, confronted the gang, was nearly lynched for according to the criminals for medding into a matter that was not his business.
In a any decent society, the collective intervention of people and with constant surveillance of security agencies, it will be near impossible to execute such crimes in broad daylight.
Worried and determined to unravel the modus operandi of the operators, I took time to delve into the matter. Although those quizzed were not forth coming for fear of attack, the one who volunteered information told me in confidence that the confidence tricksters do not operate in isolation. According to him, this is a network that cuts across security agents and Owerri indigenes who visit the “business centre” to collect their own share of the booty. The informants queried why they should raise an eye- brow when the tricksters receive the blessing and support of men in uniform and indigenes of Owerri.
On the membership of the gang, I was told that women are used as decoys among them. Victims fall prey to their innocence in appearance- a plus to the women to divert the attention of their victims, while the men among them frisk their victims. Once they surround you, I was informed, you are hypnotised and disarmed, in such a way that you cannot raise alarm within the danger zone as their other accomplices lay siege for any busy-body or sympathizers.
Another version says that only those who deliberately stray into their territory are fleeced of their money and belongings.
Often it continued, the criminals use play cards. It is a form of gambling. But the truth is crime is crime. A criminal remains a criminal overt or covert. Crime is an activity that revolves around breaking of laws, it is also an illegality punishable by law. –
On this premise, I call on the energetic commissioner of Police to investigate with the view to busting this syndicate making life miserable to unsuspecting Imolites, find out those aiding and abetting and establish the culpability of police officers who are accused of turning a blind eye while these enemies fleece Imo people of their hard-earned money and belongings.
Sydney O. Madukwem
Guest Writer Dile Emeohe Emii Owerri
