FCTA Set To Clear Criminal Hideouts In Abuja Suburbs

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has increased crackdown on criminal hideouts across Abuja suburbs, as officials say the revamped ‘Operation Sweep’ would now zero in on illegal settlements and abandoned, uncompleted buildings serving as hideouts for hoodlums and dangerous elements.

Secretary of the FCTA Command and Control Centre, Dr. Peter Olumuji, made this known yesterday during an enforcement raid in Wassa, a satellite community in the FCT.

According to Olumuji, the operation has already shifted focus beyond the city centre, moving into identified black spots in suburban areas including Karasana, Kugbo, Jikwoyi and Karshi, as well as other rapidly growing outskirts of the capital.

“We have received a lot of intelligence reports about crime and criminality in these areas. Some of these locations have served as safe havens for criminal elements,” he said.

He said the operation was aimed at removing illegal structures and settlements being used as hideouts by suspected criminals.

“Development Control had already marked this place since February 25 this year. Enough notice was given to residents to vacate the area,” he stated.

Olumuji explained that officials had also engaged community leaders and sensitised occupants before the enforcement exercise commenced.

“The purpose of this removal is to ensure that the security of the FCT is sustained and residents remain safe at all times. That is why we are taking proactive steps,” he added.

“Wassa is not in the city centre, yet we are here. We are also identifying locations in Kugbo, Jikwoyi, Karshi and other places that serve as safe havens for criminal elements. The more we remove these hideouts, the more we improve security in the FCT,” he said.

Head of Enforcement at the Social Development Secretariat (SDS), Ukachi Adebayo, said the agency had evacuated over 800 destitute persons from different parts of Abuja as part of the operation.

He said those evacuated were profiled and rehabilitated rather than abandoned.

“After evacuating them, we profile them and take them to our centre where we care for and train them before reintegrating them back into society,” she said.

She added that the agency was facing several operational challenges in carrying out the exercise.

The chairman of the Wassa community, Garzali Umar, expressed support for the operation, saying many transient occupants in the area were unknown to residents and security agencies.

He said the community had repeatedly raised concerns over suspicious movements and the increasing use of informal settlements by criminal elements.