By New Citizen
The Sokoto State Police Command Thursday said it is suspecing foul play in the media report that said hundreds of livestock were stolen by bandits from a farm in the outskirts of Sokoto as a “significant number of livestock” have returned to the farm within 24 hours.
Public Relations Officer of the command, DSP Sanusi Abubakar, said in a press statement that the police have launched an investigation into the matter with the view to identifying the cause of the livestock’s return, saying they were not rustled from the Adiya Farm in Bodinga Local Government Area “as earlier speculated.”
He said the police command had received a distress call at about 2:30 a.m. on June 28, 2022 that an attack on the farm by bandits had led to the loss of 315 livestock.
He added: “Upon (the receipt of) this information, the Commissioner of Police, CP Muhammed Usaini Gumel, FIPMA, psc, deployed tactical teams for fact-finding and on-the-spot assessment on the incident.
“There followed the deployment of investigation team to unravel the circumstances that led to the situation.
“Fortunately on 29/06/2022 at about 1300 hrs, information was received from the owner, Alhaji Abdullahi S. Gobir Adiya, that one hundred and thirty five (135) among them have returned back to the farm comprising of 65 bulls and 78 rams respectively.”
The public relations officer discɗosed that an investigation into the matter “has already been intensified as there are elements of foul play suspected and that it is not cattle rustling as earlier reported by some media outlets.”
He added that the the Commissioner of Police appealed to the people of the state to be calm and should not panic, as the police are “on top of the situation and seriously strategizing on ways to tackle the matter and overcome similar criminal challenges facing the state.”
“Upon his assumption, the CP has restructured the Command’s crime fighting tools and adopting results oriented strategies leveraging on skills such as community policing, intelligence led, and technology driven policing systems,” Abubakar said.
He assured the residents of the state of their safety and protection of life and prosperty.
