Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
The Benue State police commissioner, Omololu Bishi, on Tuesday disclosed that the command, in its resolve to rid the state of criminal elements had smashed six criminal gangs of armed robbers, cultists and other offenders of the law.
Parading the suspected criminals before newsmen at the State Police headquarters, Bishi revealed that a total of 15 suspects were arrested, while 12 arms were recovered from them.
He listed other recovered items from the criminal suspects to include said 11 ammunition, five live catridges and two expended catridges.
According to the police commissioner, a team of policemen on patrol around Woodland area, Makurdi, arrested one Joshua Okoro ‘m’ of Yaikyo village, Makurdi, who was seen wandering around the area in a suspicious manner.
“The policemen recovered from him one locally-made pistol loaded with one live cartridge. Upon interrogation, the suspect confessed that he was a cultist and mentioned other members of his cult group that are still at large. Investigation is still in progress.”
Other armed robbery suspects arrested by the police were Destiny Gbatima, Kumater Orduen, Terhemen Dev, Terna Surshima Atama, Terdoo Abata and Felix Iorgube all of different addresses.
On the worrisome cultists activities in Otukpo area of Benue State, Bishi who noted that the police were not resting on their oars to address the security challenge said two gangs of cultists had already been apprehended in the area.
He explained that a team of policemen on routine patrol at Otukpo recently intercepted and arrested some suspects including John Oche, Inalegwu Onyilo, Vincent Demetrus, Owoicha Emmanuel and Adukwu David within Otukpo town.
He said an on-the-spot search on the suspects led to the recovery of exhibits including three locally-made pistols, one toy gun, nine live ammunition and two cartridges.
Bishi further stated that another gang of three suspected cultists whose names were given as Oche Ejila Elaigwu, Wisdom Nwefuru and Onogwu Otache were also arrested by the police in Otukpo.
He said the three young men were suspected to be involved in several cases of armed robbery and culpable homicide.
“In one of the armed robbery cases, the robbers engaged the police in a shoot-out along Otukpo-Ado road. They were arrested and searched on the spot. Two locally-made pistols, two expended cartridges, one AK 47 Bayonet and one Camouflage T-shit were recovered from them. He said the suspects would soon be charged to court.
“Let me use this opportunity to appreciate the good people of Benue State for their usual support in fighting crime and warn all criminals and intending criminals to desist from crime or face the full wrath of the law when caught because the command will not relent in fishing them out from the society,” Bishi stated.