Bayelsa security outfit arrests 600 suspects in one year

Governor Seriake Dickson’s Special Adviser on Security, Benard Kenebai, stated at the weekend that the Bayelsa State special security outfit, ‘Operation Doo Akpo’, arrested about 600 suspects over criminal and related offences in the last one year of the administration.

Kenebai said the 600 suspects were handed over to the appropriate security agency for further interrogation and prosecution in accordance to the criminal laws of the state.

He was briefing newsmen in Yenagoa on the administration’s achievement in the area of security as part of activities marking the first anniversary of the administration.

Kenebai, who is a retired colonel in the Nigerian Army, said the administration acquired 13 armoured patrol boats with a view to securing life and property on the waterways of the state, stressing that government had a constitutional obligation to ensure a secure environment for development.

According to him, the present administration had adopted a proactive approach to security issues because the security situation in the state was hitherto appalling.

He said government had evolved a security strategy code-named Bayelsa Integrated Security Measure (BISM) to comprehensively tackle security challenges in the state.

“Before this administration came on board, there were high incidents of criminal activities in urban and other metropolitan cities of the state”, stated Kenebai at the briefing.

He added: “ Our waterways then were no longer safe as there were reported cases of sea piracy and other related vices. We appreciate the fact that the incidents were not peculiar to Bayelsa State alone but unique in some sense.

“The impact of a state of insecurity is quite obvious. Criminals were taking institutions of government in an open confrontation.

There were reported cases of kidnapping, assassinations and the activities of the amnesty agitators were not left out”