Barely 24 hours after the Inspector-General of Police, Mr
Solomon Arase, dispatched a special squad to Edo State to tackle the spate of
cultism, kidnapping, robbery and other related crimes, the team has arrested 11
suspected leaders of cult groups in the state, among them, four state
government functionaries.
Police sources said the team, led by the Deputy Commissioner
of Police in-charge of Federal Special Anti-robbery Squad, FEDSARS, Chris
Ezike, stormed the hideout of the cultists few hours after arriving Benin City
and successfully arrested leaders of cult confraternities for alleged
complicity and murder of 10 Nigerians in the last one month in Edo State.
The cult leaders were arrested on suspicion of
conspiratorial involvement in alleged
murder of one Ojo Ayeadu, 55, at old Benin-Auchi Road and nine other persons at different locations
in Benin City and its environs.
Reacting to the development, an Edo State Government
official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said: “Those arrested, from
what we gathered, are junior workers of the War Against Indiscipline. The state
governor does not condone cultism, which explains why when one of his
bodyguards was accused of being involved in cultism, he ordered his arrest,
which was done immediately.”
Confirming the arrests, Force Public Relations Officer, Ag
Commissioner of Police, Mr Emmanuel Ojukwu, told Vanguard on phone: “Yes, a
good number of arrests has been made, irrespective of their status. The figures are still coming in. The thrust of the IG is yielding positive
results.”
