The Chairman, Police Service Commission (PSC), Dr Solomon Arase has called on the Nigeria Police to activate its platform for tracking kidnappers and other criminals, using mobile phones to demand for ransom.
Arase made the call while addressing personnel of the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCC) during his working visit to the centre, yesterday in Abuja.
He said it was a shame for a country to have people demanding for ransom with phone without making them to face the consequences of crime.
The chairman said the platform, used during his tenure as the Inspector- General of Police (I-G) in 2015, was still available with the Nigeria Police and called for its activation.
‘We established the platform about eight years ago, I understand that they have not been paying the subscription.
“If you have a platform, you must subscribe to it on a yearly basis, there should be budgetary provision for such subscription.
“Once we are able to subscribe to it, it will be potent and I expect to see that soon. During my time as I-G, you cannot touch your phone to ask for ransom without being caught,” he said.
He said he used the platform during his tenure to secure the release of Chief Olu Falaye when he was kidnapped in his farm in Ondo State.
Arase said the kidnappers started negotiation within a space of three hours after the kidnap, demanding for N5 million ransom.
According to him, they got the money, treated it and gave it to the negotiators who dropped it in Suleja Junction in Abuja.
He said the kidnappers removed the SIM card from the phone immediately they picked up the money.
“With the platform in my office, I could see the location of the kidnappers.
“The Intelligence Response Team (IRT) personnel were already around the area but I requested that, they follow the criminals without arresting them because I wanted to know their destination.
“With the platform, we discovered they were moving towards Minna, so I had called our personnel in Minna to create an artificial road block after giving them the description of their vehicle.
“When they were finally intercepted, the driver was told to come down and open his boot where the ransom collected was kept,” he said.
In his remark, Mr Uche Ifeanyi, the Director of the centre said NPF-NCC had recorded tremendous successes in its fight against cybercrime.
Ifeanyi said the invitation of Arase to the centre was to tap from his wealth of experience in delivering effective policing in the country, especially in the area of intelligence.
He said the activities of the centre were intelligence-based especially in its investigation.
“We don’t just go out to arrest suspects, we do our profiling, look at fact, figures and available evidences before making arrest.
“The motive of cyber criminals is to make money, so what we do is to work with banks and other financial institutions to get information of their financial flows.
“After that, we do our profiling before going after the suspects and once we get the suspects, it means we are ready for prosecution,” he said.