The Police Command in Delta State, on Sunday, said it apprehended a member of a suspected cult group in the state.
The command’s spokesman, Bright Edafe, disclosed this in a statement to reporters in Warri.
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Mr Edafe, a superintendent of police, said that the command had intensified efforts to identify, track, and arrest other fleeing members of the cult group.
According to him, the suspect was nabbed on Saturday by police operatives attached to the Ekpan division in Uvwie Local Government Area of the state.
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Mr Edafe stated that the police team was led by the Divisional Police Officer of Ekpan Division, Labe Joseph, a chief superintendent of police.
He disclosed that the police operatives were on a confidence-building patrol within the Hausa Market in Ubeji, when they sighted about five suspected hoodlums loitering in the market vicinity.
“Upon sighting the police team, the suspects took to their heels and fled in different directions. The operatives chased them, and apprehended one of the suspects.
“A search conducted on the suspect led to the recovery of one locally fabricated gun and two live cartridges, concealed inside his trousers,” he said.
Mr Edafe said that upon interrogation, the suspect confessed to being a member of the Aye Confraternity.
He said that the suspect, as well as the recovered exhibits, were currently in police custody, adding that a preliminary investigation was ongoing.
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Cultism and cult-related killings are among the top security challenges in the oil-rich Delta.
In 2021, the police commissioner in Delta said cultists and other organised groups were responsible for the killing of police officers in the state.
“From records so far, we have come to realise that those responsible for the killing of policemen and carting away their rifles are members of a syndicate.
“Especially that of cult groups, desperately in need of arms and ammunition to gain superiority over other rival groups in a particular area,” the commissioner had said.
“We have intensified our own internal security strategy and network, aimed at curbing the excesses of these syndicates.”
(NAN)
