According to him, intelligence
gathering revealed that it was evidently clear that there was going
to be a clash between the Klans
and Black Axe confraternities.
“We are here to do a routine
handover of 42 suspects to the
Cross River Government’s representative.
“Accordingly, the Base responded through a tip-off and
cordoned the area in Akpabuyo.
In that raid, we arrested 61 suspected cultists.
“On arrival, preliminary investigations were conducted and
having concluded the investigation, 42 out of the arrested 61
persons were confirmed to be
cultists accordingly.
“It is in this regard that we will
be handing over the suspects
to the state government and officials of the Anti-Cultism and
Kidnapping Unit for onward investigation and prosecution,” he
said.
In the same vein, on May 24,
the Navy also arrested a wooden
boat laden with 130 drums of
palm oil smuggled from Cameroon alongside 10 suspects. The
state Security Adviser, Southern
Senatorial District, Mr Ani Esin,
who received the suspected cultists, commended the Navy for a
successful operation.
Esin said that the Navy acted
swiftly on the tip-off that was
given to them.
“As a state government, we are
doing our best in ensuring that
the issue of cultism is dealt with
squarely.
“We are going to hand over the suspects to the relevant security
agency for onward investigation
and prosecution.
“For few days now, we have
been on operation with other security agencies in making sure
that all suspected cultists are
arrested and prosecuted accordingly,” he said.
Esin, thereafter, handed over
the suspects to an official of the
Anti-Cultism and Kidnapping
Squad, Mr Ogini Chukwuma for
onward prosecution.