Police reveal identity of bandit with constabulary link killed in Plateau

The Police Command in Plateau, says one of the bandits killed by the troops of Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) in Mangu Local Government Area of the state, was a dismissed personnel of the Police Constabulary.

DSP Alfred Alabo, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the command, gave the name of the bandit as Katzing Zwalnan Zingfa, who was dismissed a year ago and declared wanted.

Alabo said in a statement on Thursday in Jos that Zingfa was among the three bandits who attempted to ambush troops of OPSH along Mangun-Pushit-Mangu road, but were eliminated by the gallant soldiers.

Our correspondent reports that the OPSH on Wednesday found a constabulary identity card on the bandit after the incident.

Alabo said that the deceased hailed from Langtang North Local Government and was trained as special constabulary.

”On completion of his training on Nov. 23, 2020, he was posted to our Langtang North Area Command and later to Langtang North Division to carry out his duty of assisting the Police in crime prevention and intelligence gathering.

”He absconded from duty for over a year and his character was already in question, after several warnings he was declared an absentee according to the first schedule 1990 and section 107 of the Nigeria Police Act 2020.

”The Area Commander in Langtang also directed all Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) in the command to arrest him once found.

”The DPOs have been on the lookout for him until Wednesday, July 12, when troops of OPSH did a good job by neutralising him and two other bandits in Mangu,” he said.

According to him, the command distances itself from all criminal activities carried out by the deceased, and has been making efforts to track and retrieve all Police properties in his possession, before he was neutralised by the troops.