TheCable

The plot by Boko Haram insurgents to attack the federal capital territory and six other states is real, the police have said.

Sadiq Bello, FCT police commissioner, said the nation’s security agencies are working in sync to prevent the occurrence of any attack.

During a stakeholders’ forum on Thursday in Abuja, Bello said “a lot” is being done to forestall a potential attack.

“The threat to attack the city is real; however, we want to assure members of the public that we are working in collaboration with other sister security agencies to ensure that we all enjoy a peaceful Yuletide,” he said.

“We are doing a lot but we don’t want to mention the strategy so that the men of the underworld don’t take advantage of it. We are doing a lot especially with our sister security agencies. We have already mapped out strategies and we have already commenced that.

“It may involve massive raids, massive visibility policing, vigorous stop and search and we would also embark on intelligence gathering.

“Police work is not magic, we depend on members of the public to make contribution and that is why we are urging members of the public to come up with useful information that would help us nip crimes in the bud.”

The UK and US governments had last week issued travel advisories to their citizens, citing possible attacks in the FCT, Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa and Yobe.

In response, Ibrahim Idris, the inspector general of police, had ordered commissioners of police across the country to be on red-alert and beef up security in the concerned states.