It has emerged that the Intelligence Response Team members allegedly killed by soldiers along Ibi–Jalingo Road, Taraba State, on Tuesday are among the finest in the Nigeria Police Force.
IRT Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, disclosed this to the press on Thursday, saying the team was one of the best and most highly trained IRT teams in the country.
The team was said to be part of operatives who rescued the District head of Daura, Alh. Musa Umar in Kano State, arresting 13 suspects involved in his abduction.
Mr. Kyari further revealed that the members were part of the teams that arrested the notorious kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, a.k.a. Evans.
They took part in the arrest of 22 Boko Haram terrorists who abducted over 200 Chibok schoolgirls in Borno State in 2014, he added.
Kyari said, “They similarly participated in the arrest of Umar Abdulmalik, overall Boko Haram Commander Of North Central, Nigeria and several of his group members.
“They arrested the kidnappers of two American and two Canadian citizens in Kaduna State and most recently, they took part in the rescue of Magajin Garin Daura in Kano State during which 13 suspects who carried out the abduction were arrested in Kano.”
The saddened DCP regretted the alleged release of Hamisu by the soldiers who attacked the IRT team.
The IRT men led by ASP Felix Adolije were said to have been attacked by soldiers while taking a kidnap kingpin, Alhaji Hamisu, to the Command Headquarters in Jalingo.
The army later said in a statement that they had mistaken the policemen for kidnappers.
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered an investigation.