Following increasing incidence of attacks and kidnappings along the Emohua-Kalabari road in Rivers State, the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, Mr. Friday Eboka, has assigned the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations to lead the tactical teams to secure the route.
The Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Grace Iringe-Koko, told National Point that the police command was taking the situation on the road seriously and was doing everything to restore sanity to the road, which connects the three Kalabari local government areas of Degema, Asari-Toru and Akuku-Toru with the rest of the state by road.
“The Commissioner of Police has beefed up security in that Emohua axis. The anti-kidnapping and other tactical teams are there already,” Iringe-Koko said in a telephone interview.
She said one person that was arrested in connection with the criminal activities along that road has been charged to court already.
“But we are appealing to members of the public to avail the police with useful information. They can report to nearby police stations or call our control room numbers to give information on the activities of these criminals.
“The CP has already mandated the DCP Operations to be in charge of that axis. Besides, our tactical units are there; adequate security has been deployed and travellers can be assured of their safety,” Iringe-Koko said.
For many months now armed robbers and kidnappers had turned the route to hell on Earth for motorists and commuters who ply that road on a daily basis. They do not only rob travellers, they kidnap many others and demand huge ransoms from their families before they are released.
Last month, a commercial bus driver was killed by his abductors, which triggered a protest from commercial bus operators on that axis. The drivers threatened to shut down operations along that axis if nothing was done to restore normalcy.
At some point the spate of kidnappings nearly triggered inter-communal conflicts as fingers were pointed at a certain community as being the abode of the criminals that operate on the road.
Apart from the kidnappings and killings, the deplorable state of the road has also raised concern among road users, who lament that criminals used the bad spots to trap motorists and their passengers.
In recent weeks, commercial transport operators have restricted movement on the road to between the hours of 7am and 6pm to avoid being attacked on the route.
