It's midnight and the sound of gunshots rented the air. Everyone within the facility is in panic. Men of the underworld are at it again. Dressed in back tracksuit with a mask, a gang of ten daredevil robbers have just attacked the prison facility to set free two members facing trial in court which are kept under the custody of the prison.
Heavily armed with AK 47 and other sophisticated weapons, two of the robbers gained their entrance through the gate. They engaged the three police officers at the gate but overpowered them due to the volume of ammunition in their custody. Others strategically positioned themselves around the fence of the prison to prevent any official escaping.
Immediately they entered, they went straight to the male section of the prison where the gang members were kept. The inmates were picked and they escaped through the fence after breaking a part of it with dynamites. While the attack was going on, the comptroller hid somewhere and put a distress call to the state commissioner of police.
A visibly terrified commissioner swung into action by mobilizing his men under the command of an assistant to the crime scene.
Unfortunately, the attackers had left shortly before the police arrival.
The following day, almost all the dailies featured the report on their front pages. This was an embarrassment to the president who summoned the Inspector General of police.
"This is the third time this month that we are recording a successful attack in zone A command. The rate at which these attacks occur is unacceptable. We need to bring this frequency to a momentarily halt now" The President, a tall retired military officer who recently won his election and sworn in, stated.
"Enough of all these" He concluded as a glass of water he was holding slipped off his hand and was shattered.
"OK Sir!" The commissioner replied. He also gave the assurance of taking charge of the situation to bring the culprits to justice and preventing reoccurrence.
" I don't want any delay in action." the President concluded.
The commissioner, the following day, met with the state comptroller of prisons and, the divisional police officer in the zone.
He briefed them about the situation and conveyed to them the message of the President.
In his response, the division officer said;
"Thank you very much Sir. Our challenge in fighting crime here is the deployment of technology to help fight crime.
"These criminals do call to negotiate the ransom to be paid to set free their captives. Tracking such calls will lead to timely arrest of the criminals.
"We've ordered for these gadgets and I believe that very soon, we shall take delivery of them." Concluded the commissioner.
The whole town is now in perpetual fear. The jailbreak made the situation worse. Parents are withdrawing their children from school for the fear of kidnap - it happened recently - while business outlets are reducing their working hours in order for staff to return home on time. The country is partly turning to a police state. The government seems helpless. People kept wondering if these gang of criminals living in forest from where they visit town to commit their heinous crimes are invincible.
This is a hard nut but it must be cracked.
"We have to deploy our Intelligence Response Team to the zone now" The commissioner with a lot of pressure from his superior tells the team of officers of his command.
"The StingRay tracking device is here now and our men can get to work."
He immediately ordered Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Patrick to head the IRT team to fight the crime. ACP Patrick is an officer with years of experience in fighting crime. Having the tracking gadget now makes it easier for him to bring his years of experience to salvage the situation.
He reported at the command where the prison is located. This has been the hot spot. In a scenario which may be termed as a welcome scene to the team, the gangs of criminals struck just two days after. This time, it was a high profile kidnapping - chief executive of a bank had just been abducted.
Patrick and his men took over the case after immediate rescue attempt by the combined team of police and military combatants failed. He visited the abductee's house, inspected the house, took some exhibits/evidence, Interviewed the wife of the abductee, before returning back to office.
After the wife explained how they gained access by destroying the gate with IED (Improvised Explosive Device), a method that is becoming their trademark, and taking away Dr John after shooting sporadically into the air, the head of the IRT told her to play along and informed him immediately in the event that the kidnappers contact her to discuss ransom. The team went around the house to pick up the case of used bullets and some unused bullets.
The kidnappers, as expected contacted Mrs John for ransom negotiation and she alerted ACP Patrick immediately.
"With what number did they called you?" He asked.
In her response, she explained that she was reached with her husband number to pay 100000 dollars as ransom to release him. He was forced to take his phone along with him during the abduction and it was now clear why they did so.
"Alright, we'll get back to you for any further assistance or development" He concluded.
The team tracked the number to a location in the vast forest in a neighbouring state.
"That is good" He said as the ACP was shown the map of the area and the location of the kidnappers by a member of the team. His team sent a drone to get further details of the terrain.
"You will have to go there and drop a bag of purported cash and from there, the representatives coming to pick it must be apprehended."
"We need to be careful in our approach to avoid losing the victim" Inspector Gomez, a member of the team responded.
The whole assignment took them three days to enclose the kidnappers both land and air support.
The criminals surrendered and the victim rescued. The arrested criminals were charged to court.
The news rented the air and the whole country jubilate.
The ACP Patrick led team were so good that within the spate of a month, more than 10 high profile criminals that had been on government's wanted list were apprehended.
At the mention of IRT, criminals scamper for escape. He took the fight to their doorstep.
ACP Patrick was invited by the parliament and was given standing ovation for job well done. The President met with him in company of the IG and gave the remark;
'About six weeks ago, I invited you, IG where I registered my displeasure about the insecurity and gave you three months to cut short the frequency of attacks and kidnappings.
"I am very happy to see you achieve this in six weeks.
On behalf of the country, I appreciate your patriotism"
He also heap praises on Patrick as the brain behind the success. He was celebrated with his team and charged to keep up the work.