ANAMBRA State Police Command has paraded 35 suspects in connection with clash between cult groups and illicit drug traffickers.
The parade was carried out by the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Haruna Mohammed (CSP) at the Headquarters of State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Amawbia.
While parading the suspects, Mr. Mohammed said that at about 10 o’clock in the morning of 17th February, 2021, a clash between a cult group and drug traffickers at 100 Foot Road, Nnewi resulted to a serious pandemonium in the area and as a result, Police patrol team in conjunction with local vigilante group quickly mobilised to the scene and arrested 4 suspects on the spot.
According to the Police Image Maker, the suspected hoodlums consequently blocked the road and set fire on saw dust in a bid to prevent the Police from taking the suspects to the station and the fire overwhelmed the people who tried to put it off and eventually extended to the timber market.
He added that the thirty-five suspects arrested have in their procession, axe, dried leaves suspected to be cannabis sativa and a motorcycle recovered from them.
Mr. Mohammed recalled how the Police patrol team attached to Otolo Division and three vehicles belonging to the Vigilante groups were stoned by the rampaging youths.
The PPRO noted that investigation is ongoing into individual involvement in the incident after which they will be charged to court while others who have no involvement will be set free.
The Police Image Maker, assured that normalcy was restored in the area as the command has deployed more security operatives to boost resident’s confidence to go about their normal businesses.
In an interview, one of the suspects, Ikechukwu Okeke from Otolo Nnewi who said he works as security guard in a hotel narrated how some cultists numbering over 20 persons approached him at his work place with machetes and guns and threatened to kill him before he managed to escape with the help of Police officers.
BY SUNNY A. DAVID
