Farmers who abandoned their farmlands over fears of kidnapping are gradually returning to agricultural activities along the troubled Okpella-Okene corridor in Edo North following sustained security operations against criminal groups.
The development comes as joint security teams intensify forest combing, aerial surveillance and intelligence-led operations to dismantle kidnappers’ hideouts and restore confidence among residents and travellers.
Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP Peter Isagannna Yari, disclosed this during a recent joint security operation in Okpella, attributing the progress to coordinated efforts under the administration of Governor Monday Okpebholo.
Yari explained that kidnappers had adopted tactics that involved operating from remote forests, attacking travellers and communities before retreating into difficult terrain to evade security operatives.
He said the changing tactics made intelligence-led forest operations critical to identifying criminal hideouts and preventing armed groups from using the forests as safe havens.
According to him, the ongoing offensive involves the police, military, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigerian Air Force, Edo State Security Network and local hunters, supported by aerial surveillance equipment to monitor forest routes extending towards Kogi State.
Yari said a four-day operation in Okpella covered virtually all identified forest routes in the area and recorded successes, including arrests and the rescue of kidnapped victims.
He added that aerial surveillance and coordinated security operations had contributed to relative peace along the Okpella-Okene axis, previously notorious for kidnapping.
The police officer said security agencies would sustain the offensive through regular forest patrols at divisional and local levels, as well as coordinated operations across the state’s senatorial districts.
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He stressed that maintaining pressure on criminal networks was essential to preventing them from regrouping or establishing safe havens in Edo State.
Yari said the broader objective was to restore normal life in affected communities by enabling residents to travel, farm and conduct businesses without fear, while strengthening security for investors and other economic activities.
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