Police arrest Lawmaker and ex Zamfara LG boss for banditry

Muhammad Dalijan, the Commissioner of Police in Zamfara State, has announced the arrest of a member of the State House of Assembly and a former local government chairman in relation to banditry in the state.

Dalijan made the announcement on Wednesday while hosting Thomas Parker, the officer in charge of the Counterterrorism Unit of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, at the command headquarters in Gusau, the state capital.

The commissioner, however, refused to release the identities of the politician and former council leader arrested in connection with the crime.

Dalijan also appealed to the United Nations to help establish a forensic laboratory to address the challenge of going to Lagos to conduct forensic analysis and also urged the UN to replicate in Zamfara what they did in Maiduguri.

The commissioner also sought the global body’s assistance in training on investigation and establishing forensic laboratories to accelerate the investigation and prosecution of suspected criminals.

He, however, noted that crime rates have reduced in the state due to the ongoing efforts of security agencies, in collaboration with Community Protection Guards, to flush out the suspected terrorists who migrated from Maiduguri to Zamfara in Northwest Nigeria.

In his remarks, Parker said the UN delegation was in the state on the appeal that Governor Dauda Lawal had made to the UN to assist the state in tackling the insecurity surrounding it.

Parker, who said he visited the police command to gather more information about the state’s existential threats, informed Dalijan of the UN’s readiness to conduct an assessment of the security situation first to understand the causes and challenges and how to help deal with the threats.