The rate of criminal activity by some miscreants has become concerning, affecting the National Mosque, Tofa House in the central region, and other parts of the city center. These criminals steal phones and luggage from the unwary public while posing as pedestrians.
On numerous occasions, I had to help victims submit theft cases to the local police division.
A young Yoruba woman was recently robbed near the bridge that connects Tofa House to the National Mosque intersection. The crime inspector who recorded the incident took us to the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) after I instructed her to file a formal report at the Federal Secretariat’s Police Divisional Office. During the conversation, an old Hausa man entered and voiced his displeasure over a comparable crime that had occurred nearby. A long knife was the kind of weapon the thugs used to intimidate him before robbing him of his goods, the man replied when the DCO asked him several questions. The DCO recalled that they had once detained the thugs, but they were shocked to find that the man who had come to complain had been threatened with the same knife that he had been caught with.
They typically flee to the Mohammed Abacha Estate forest area that connects the Abuja Intercontinental Hotel (previously Sheraton) whenever they steal things from their victims. Police officials have been urged by observers to form a special task unit from the Federal Secretariat Command with coded operation under a CSP to tackle the menace headlong before it degenerates to a serious problem.
The police’s existing approach, in which they typically sound their sirens to let the criminals flee before they reach the scene of the heist, need to be abandoned. Therefore, if the criminals are to be caught, surveillance, undercover, and coded operations are required.
It is not yet safe to say that the city core is secure. Bag and phone snatching has replaced one-time robbery and kidnapping. The FCT Police Command needs to step up and respond appropriately.
