The Operation Whirl Stroke (OPWS) have reportedly arrested two persons in connection with recent communal clash at three communities in Mbalom council ward in the Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue State.

The three communities that took arms against themselves were; Tse Hundu, Tse Yanre and Tse Aku all in Mbalom Council Ward of Gwer East LGA.

According to a local, who simply identified himself as Terna, said the prompt intervention of troops of Operation Whirl Stroke saved what would have been a terrible crisis.

Terna said though the incident happened late last week, troops of OPWS that had been keeping vigil on the areas arrested two persons with a cache of arms and dangerous weapons, including 11 locally made long barrel gun, one shot gun, two cartridges, gun powder, three knives, nine cutlasses and charms recovered from criminals in the area.

He said trouble started as a result of land issues, noting that some houses were torched and one person killed during the communal crisis.

“It was a mere land dispute and before you know it, youths in the three communities took up arms against one another and they torched few houses and one person was killed.

“When the crisis was getting out of hands, some members of the communities quickly alerted troops of OPWS, who immediately responded by rushing to the area to restore normalcy.

“As I speak with you now, two suspects were arrested with some arms and dangerous weapons with charms. We heard that the suspects were later handed over to the police.

A military source confirmed to our correspondent in Makurdi that two persons were arrested and cache of arms, mostly locally made guns, charms and dangerous weapons like knives, were recovered from the area.

Efforts to get the Commander of OPWS, Maj. Gen. Adeyemi Yekini, were not successful as several calls put across to his phone were neither picked nor returned. Also, he did not respond to message sent to his phone.

Also contacted, the state Police Command Spokesperson, Catherine Anene, said she had yet to be briefed on the incident.

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