The Olukare of Ikare, Oba Akadiri Momoh, has urged the Ondo State Police Command to urgently tackle bank robberies in the town, which is the headquarters of Akoko North East Local Government Area of the State.
The monarch made the call when he received in his palace, the state police commissioner, Mr Sani Magaji, who paid him a courtesy visit on Monday.
He urged the police boss to ensure that enough riot police officers were drafted to the town, to secure few commercial banks in the town.
Momoh also called for the establishment of a special police squad that can swiftly respond to distress calls in the state as practised in some states.
He said there could be no meaningful development in an environment where security was highly porous.
If the attack on the financial institution were not urgently addressed, most banks might be forced to close down indefinitely.
The monarch also said, The rate at which banks are being raided in Ikare is highly alarming and call for concerted efforts from all the security agencies. This attack is forcing some of the banks to close as early as 2.pm
We are urging the police authorities to tackle the bank raids headlong by creating a rapid response squad and also deploy more riot policemen to the area. This is an issue that every responsible government must take serious, he said.
The monarch also stressed the need for the police and the host community to work jointly to reduce the activities of bank robbers to the barest minimum.
In his response, Magaji assured the monarch that the command was not losing sleep on the matter.
He said armed riot policemen had already been deployed in the area and other areas in the state for effective crime control especially, prevention of bank robberies.
via Punch