From Chinedu Nwafor, Abakaliki
Enugu State Police Command said it has nabbed 26 criminal suspects for various offenses across the State.
This was disclosed by the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Command, Abubakar Lawal while parading the suspects on Wednesday.
“Twenty-six male suspects, involved in the offences of conspiracy, unlawful possession of firearms/ammunition and cult activities were arrested in Enugu.
“The arrests led to the recovery of one English-made Berretta pistol with one live round of .9mm calibre ammunition, four locally-made pistols with three live cartridges and other incriminating exhibits,” Lawal said.
The Police Commissioner, further said, “On 29/05/2022 at about 11pm, a combined team of Police Operatives drawn from Operation Restore Peace (ORP) and Enugu Metro Area Command, while on routine stop/search duty along Abakaiki Road, Enugu; intercepted in a commercial bus and arrested one Obinna Owoh aged 22, of Ntezi in Ishielu LGA of Ebonyi State, while two of his cohorts escaped. Search conducted on him led to the recovery of two (2) locally made pistols with three (3) live cartridges.
“Similarly, on 28/05/2022 at about 5.30pm, Police Operatives serving in the Nsukka Sector of the Command’s Crack Squad arrested one Benedict Nwodo aged 29, of Ugwuechara in Nsukka, following their prompt response to a distress call alleging that he was sighted with a gun along CSO Site in Nsukka and English-made Berretta pistol with one live round of .9mm calibre of ammunition was recovered from him.
“In a related development, on 28/05/2022 at about 4.30am, Police Operatives serving in Anti-Cultism Squad of the Command, acting on credible information, busted a secret cult meeting/initiation process in a forest at Eke in Udi LGA, arrested twenty-four (24) suspects and recovered two (2) locally made pistols, seven (7) black berets and a white-coloured ten litres can, containing liquid substance suspected to be a mixture of palm wine and Indian hemp used for the initiation. Ongoing investigation revealed that the suspects are made up of fourteen (14) newly initiated and ten (10) old members of Apache Tigers (“Two-Two”), which is also known as Black Beret (“BB”) Confraternity.
Lawal said the suspects would be arraigned after investigations were concluded.