One person has been confirmed dead following an encounter between men of Kano State Police Command and suspected Fulani cattle rustlers in Gani town, Kano-Bauchi Boarder Forest axis.
The bush is located in Kano within the Northwest and borders Bauchi which leads to Sambisa Forest on the Northeast boarder axis.
Addressing journalists at the scene of the incident, the State Commissioner of Police, Musa Katsina, said that 224 cows, 34 sheep and two dogs were recovered from the suspects.
According to the Commissioner, It was a tedious Thursday night for the Police Anti-cattle Rustling Unit and the command’s Special Ambush Squad when they engaged in an all night exchange of fire with the bandits, which led to the recovery of some cows and sheep.
Mr Katsina said that in collaboration with community Leaders, vigilante groups and the association of Fulani Herdsmen, the command had since, directed special surveillance units to conduct an aggressive search of the forest with a view to identifying the fleeing suspects who might have not gone far as he delivered the cows to the State Government for onward hand over to the original owners.
However, because of the heated police patrol around the popular Falgore Forest axis, cattle rustlers were said to have shifted their activities to Gomo Forest in far Sumaila Local Government Area of Kano in the process of raiding some villages that were ambushed by the Police Anti-Cattle Rustling Units and Special Ambush Squad Team.
Receiving the cows on behalf of Kano State Government, a member of the State House of Assembly representing Sumaila constituency, Hamza Zubairu, promised to deliver the cows to the state government for proper identification of the owner.
In the meantime, the Kano Command of the Nigeria Police will soon seek collaboration with other states commissioners of Police who share boarders with the state to be able to bring an end to the disturbing cattle rustling operations especially in the northwest states boarder axis.
