Four students of the University of Ilorin are in the police custody for alleged car snatching and armed robbery.
The Commissioner of police Oyo State Police Command Mbu Joseph Mbu stated this when he led a team of policemen to visit the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan recently.
Mbu who has just recently been posted to the Oyo State police command said the students were arrested with others following a tip off.
The Police boss also added that the command intercepted a Toyota Camry car where two AK47 rifles and sixty rounds of ammunition were recovered.
“We got some robbery suspects who snatched cars and when we interviewed them,four of them stated that they are from the University of Ilorin.
The command also intercepted a Toyota Camry car were we recovered two AK47 rifles with sixty rounds of ammunition. You can imagine what these criminals will do with such weapon of mass destruction”Mr. Mbu said.
Mr. Mbu added that criminals are in for a hard time this festive period as the command has restrategised to combat all form of criminality.
“We have 25 plain and unmarked vehicles with over 30 motorcycles patrolling the state. There is no cause for alarm this festive period as we are well equipped to protect lives and property”Mr. Mbu said.
In his reaction,the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan. Prof Isaac Adewoye while welcoming the police boss advocated for community policing as a way of curbing the rising crime rate in the country while urging the police high command to take community policing seriously adding that ” the University of Ibadan is committed to building a collaborative partnership with the Nigeria Police Force.
There is the need for the police to go back to community policing; We have deemed it necessary to bring the police into our village square meeting. This is necessary as criminals live in the community and members of the community can identify them. This way,the police can curb crime in the society” Prof. Adewoye said.
The VC also stated that the university is networking with the police command in the training of campus security staff for effective policing and crime fighting on campus “Our security officer are benefitting from the training and retraining from the police command. This is the fifth batch of our security officers undergoing such training; We will continue to collaborate with the police but the police need to develop the confidence of the larger society to partner with them because we have a lot to offer the police in terms of helping in conducting research,and officers can come to the relevant departments and faculties to study courses that will help them on the job” Prof. Adewoye said.