Bandits and criminal elements are being starved and could no longer feed themselves and their captives thereby making it difficult to sustain their operations, Zamfara State governor, Alhaji Bello Mohammed Matawalle has said.
He said the bandits have been denied access to food, fuel and means of communication, a situation that has brought about difficulty to them in their hideouts.
Speaking on Deutsche Welle Radio which was monitored by CAPITAL POST on Monday, the governor said captives held back for months and weeks awaiting ransom to be paid to bandits are returning to their homes.
According to him, they are also abandoning their motorbikes due to lack of fuel.
CAPITAL POST last week reported that governor Matawalle of Zamfara State has ordered the closure of filling stations in any part of the State except Gusau, capital of the State as means to curtail banditry activities in the State.
Last week the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) in a letter addressed to Chairmen of communication service providers, ordered the shut down of services in Zamfara to cut bandits off from communicating with each other and their conspirators.
Meanwhile, the Chief of Army Staff has visited Zamfara on the spot assessment of the onslaught exercise that is ongoing.
The governor told the visiting COAS that troops and the local vigilantes are currently beginning to reach out to the armed criminals in their hideouts inside forests.
According to him, “aggressive military operation is ongoing. All their camps would be dismantled one by one and we are recording massive success.
“I am not going anywhere; I will remain in the state throughout these operations. I must share the pains of the disruption of the telecommunication services with the good people of the state.
“As you can see, checkpoints have been mounted after every five kilometres throughout the state so that no criminal would escape,” the governor said.
