The Plateau State Police Command has disclosed that one of the three suspects killed in Mangu LGA by the military taskforce known as Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) was a dismissed officer.
This was stated in a press release made available to journalists in Jos, the state capital, on Thursday by the State Police Command through its Public Relations Officer, DSP Alfred Alabo.
The statement reads: “The Plateau State Police Command wishes to clear the air concerning the involvement of one police constable who is said to be among those neutralised in Mangu Local Government Area by Operation Safe Haven operatives.
“The Special Constabulary is a scheme employed by the then police administration between 2018 and 2019 with the support of the state governments, who arranged training colleges and paid for the cost of training.
It involves the voluntary recruitment of able-bodied men and women of all ages to give teeth to the concept of community policing in all parts of the nation.
“The men were selected by their traditional rulers or local government chairmen to be persons of credible character and brought to the Police for training.
“The special constabularies are to aid the police in intelligence gathering and not to in any way bear firearms. They are only mandated to be physically present at the Police station for two hours daily.
“The deceased, who was among those neutralised by the Operation Safe Haven operatives, was one Katzing Zwalnan Zingfa of Langtang North Local Government Area, Tarok by tribe, born on November 23, 1990.
“On completion of his training on November 13, 2020, he was posted to Langtang North Area Command and later to Langtang North Division to carry out his mandate of assisting the police in crime prevention and intelligence gathering.
“The personnel in question absconded from duty for over a year now, and by his action of absconding from duty, his character was already in question; hence, he was defaulted several times by the DPO Langtang North before declaring him a deserter according to the First Schedule, 1990, and Section 107 of the Nigeria Police Act 2020.
“The Area Commander, Langtang, also directed all DPOs in the Area Command to arrest him as soon as he was seen.
“The DPOs have been on the lookout for the said personnel until July 12, 2023, when the Operation Safe Haven operatives did a good job by neutralising three bandits in Mangu LGA, among whom was the said SCP Katzing Zwalnan Zingfa.
“To this end, the Plateau State Commissioner of Police, Bartholomew Onyeka, wishes to inform the public that it is true that the above-named deceased was once a member of the Special Constabulary of the Nigeria Police Force, but wants the public to note that he has since been declared a deserter and has been dismissed from the force.
“All efforts to track him and retrieve all Police accoutrements proved abortive until July 12, 2023, when he met his Waterloo.
“The entirety of the Nigeria Police Force wishes to at this point distance itself from the activities of the said personnel, who at the time of committing this act was not in any way a member of the Force as he has already been dismissed.”
