'Politicians used IRT's tracker to monitor enemies, mistresses instead of kidnappers'

A senior police officer, now retired, has said that the real-time tracking technological platform that once helped the Intelligence Response Team, IRT, to crack many criminal cases ended up being used by politicians to monitor "enemies and mistresses".

The officer said this while responding to Vanguard's question on what went wrong with the system put in place to monitor the locations of kidnappers and interception of calls for prompt arrest and rescue of abducted victims.

The tech platform launched
The Police launched intelligence-led policing in 2015 with the installation of a tracking device that was installed by the then-Inspector-General of Police office, Solomon Arase.

There was also the operation unit code-named Intelligence Response Team, IRT, (still in operation). The team monitored the kidnappers' movements in real-time, with the information from the device, thereby helping them stay one step ahead.

This device also helped investigators analyze the locations and patterns of calls made by the kidnappers, the routes, and potential safe houses.

In addition, the device provided valuable evidence, such as call records, location data and communication patterns, to build a strong case against the kidnappers.

One such case was the arrest of five kidnappers of former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae. He was taken captive by the herdsmen on September 21, 2015, during his 77th birthday.

In this case, five of the kidnappers came to pick up the N5 million ransom in Suleja, Niger State.

An officer's eyewitness account
One of the senior police officers who effected the breakthrough told Vanguard "Immediately the kidnappers removed the SIM card used to negotiate, we knew where they were and intercepted them at the last bridge to Minna.

"The ransom money they collected was still in the boot and the SIM card. Five of them were arrested. The motorcycle they used to convey Chief Olu Falae was retrieved.

"The N5 million ransom was marked by the bank. They removed only N100,000 from it. The kidnappers were sentenced to life imprisonment."

Tracking mistresses

Asked what went wrong with the system put in place to monitor the locations of kidnappers and interception of calls for prompt arrest and rescue of abducted victims, the retired senior officer attributed it to the priority of successive Inspectors General of Police.

His words: "The priority of successive IGPs was quite different. Solomon Arase set up the platform when he was the IGP. It was a technical platform to track calls.

"It was mounted in the IGP's office then and only one officer, who is now an AIG, had access to the technical platform.

"The Intelligence Response Team, IRT was supposed to be the operational wing that would work with the technical platform. When the technical team got information, it would pass it to IRT to go to the location and make an arrest. Drones and vehicles were bought for the operation.

"But successive IGPs who were analogues didn't know what to do. They merged the technical platform and IRT. Instead of the platform being used for crime prevention, it became political.

"People in the National Assembly and Villa got hold of the platform and used it to track their enemies and mistresses.

"For such a platform, you don't give both the technical and the operational units to just one person who would be compromised by politicians. That was the beginning of the collapse of the platform. It requires someone with power and intelligence; someone of a strategic level who is keen on that line.

"This platform was supposed to be renewed and hooked up with the service provider. But that was never the priority of successive IGPs.

Abandoned

"They had money to pay for the accumulated subscription but they refused to pay. When you leave such a system for more than one year, it requires recalibration. This technology keeps evolving.

"You can't say something you set up today will be used the same way for 10 years without being upgraded. Before long, the system broke down, and the functionality of the Police tracking equipment began to diminish and subsequently went comatose.

The tracker, particularly, became non-functional due to non-subscription as well as failure to engage the relevant company to carry out required system upgrades.

"Due to the failure to pay subscription fees for about three years, and after a grace period had expired, the company overseeing its maintenance and upgrade decided to withdraw its services. This made it difficult to track bandits, kidnappers, and other forms of violent crimes."

However, Saturday Vanguard gathered that the present IGP, Kayode Egbetokun, reactivated the tracking device.

However, despite its reactivation, in addition to the tracking devices of the DSS and Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, kidnappers are still having their way without being tracked in many parts of the country.