26 Suspects Arrested For Cultism, Other Offences In Enugu

The Enugu State Police Command has announced the arrest of 26 suspects for various offences ranging from cultism and illegal possession of firearms and conspiracy.

The spokesman of the Police in Enugu, Daniel Ndukwe who made this known in a statement on Wednesday attributed the arrest to the command's quest to purge the state of unrepentant criminals.

Giving details of the arrest, Ndukwe said, "On May 29, 2022, at about 11 pm, a combined team of Police Operatives drawn from Operation Restore Peace and Enugu Metro Area Command, while on routine stop and search duty along Abakaiki Road, Enugu; intercepted in a commercial bus.

"The team arrested one Obinna Owoh aged 22, of Ntezi in Ishielu LGA of Ebonyi State, while two of his cohorts escaped. 

"A search conducted on him led to the recovery of two locally made pistols with three live cartridges.

"Similarly, on May 28, 2022, at about 5.30 pm, 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.

"One English-made Berretta pistol with one live round of .9mm calibre of ammunition was recovered from him.

"In a related development, on May 28, 2022, at about 4.30 am, police operatives serving in the Anti-Cultism Squad of the Command, acting on credible information, busted a secret cult meeting and initiation process in a forest at Eke in Udi LGA.

"They arrested twenty-four suspects and recovered two locally made pistols, seven 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 newly initiated and ten old members of Apache Tigers (Two-Two), which is also known as Black Beret (BB) Confraternity."

According Ndukwe all the suspects will be arraigned in court once investigations are concluded.