Police operatives in Delta State have arrested no fewer than 31 suspected cultists at Oghara, Ethiope West, and Okpanam, Oshimili North local government areas.
The state’s police spokesman, DSP Bright Edafe, who confirmed the arrest, told newsmen in Asaba on Tuesday that 15 of them were arrested in their hideout while another 16 with a female gang member were arrested at the point of initiation of new members into their folds.
According to Edafe: “On March 12, 2021, around 10.25 p.m. Commander, State anti-Cult Unit (SACU), SP Igbaji Christopher, acting on credible information, dispatched SACU operatives to Sapele and raided a notorious cultist hideout in Oghara, and 15 suspected cultists were arrested and raps of substances suspected to be cocaine were recovered while a cult group called Aye Confraternity was initiating new members at a nearby bush, Obogba village Okpanam, where the initiation was to take place,15 male suspects and one female suspect were arrested. One Toyota Camry car was recovered.
“On March 15, 2021 around 12.40p.m. The Divisional Police Officer ‘A’ Division, Warri, CSP T.Y. Mahmud acting on intelligence over a period of time, a serviceable G-3 rifle with No. ET77645 with f15 rounds of live ammunition was recovered behind uncompleted building used as a worship center along Warri/Sapele road by the garage opposite Wema Bank.”
He said the items were suspected to have been hidden by men of the underworld.
According to him, “The police are hunting for those suspected to have hidden the rifle arrest and prosecution.”
The police spokesman also revealed that a suspected armed robber was lynched by an irate mob at Mccaiver Road, Warri. After a painstaking intelligence gathering by the police, one of the suspects, Ola Tuoyo, 25, was traced to the hospital where he was receiving treatment.
According to Edafe, the suspect had suffered first-degree burns and confessed to being a member of the robbery syndicate that invaded Mccaiver Road that night and gave the name of the deceased mobbed suspect as Idianmi.
“The suspect, in the hospital, is still being closely monitored, though chances of survival are bleak,” he added.
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