The Police Command in Enugu State, has arrested 36 suspected criminals involved in various crimes in the state within the past one month.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Ahmad Abdurrahman, disclosed this while addressing newsmen on the arrest in Enugu on Tuesday.
He said that the arrest was achieved by police operatives of Operation Puff Adder and intelligence-led community-policing mechanism.
Abdurrahman said that six arms, three live cartridges, seven inverter batteries, one tricycle, one lorry and one hand set were recovered from the suspects.
He said that other items recovered include; filling machine, cutting machine and short iron axe all used in fabricating locally-made guns as well as piles of MTN cables and Transmission Armoured Cables.
The commissioner said that the suspects were arrested for armed robbery, kidnapping, cultism, vandalism, rape among others.
He said that the command had succeeded in arresting two notorious locally-made arm manufacturers a fortnight ago in Nenwe community.
The suspects are from Otuku community in Awgu Local Government Area and Agbada in Nenwe community in Aninri Local Government Area.
“The suspects engaged in the manufacture and sales of firearms and they were arrested with the aid of Nenwe Community Neighbourhood Watch Association.
“These suspects must have been the ones that supply arms to criminals, who in turn use it to terrorize law abiding residents of the state,’’ he said.
The commissioner also said that the command also arrested three suspected kidnappers who operated in the state but lived outside the state.
According to him, the suspects are an Inspector from Rijana Police Station, Kaduna State; a Sergeant of 64 Police Mobile Force, Ikorodu, Lagos State and one other from Ogui, Enugu State.
“The three suspects are still under investigation,’’ he said.
He noted that the command on Nov. 9, arrested a Pastor of Christ Mercy Ministry Ajuona Obukpa in Nsukka Local Government Area for violence and forceful rape of a lady.
Abdurrahman urged criminals to steer clear of the state this yuletide, adding that the command did a show-of-force on Tuesday and other measures to show criminals the way out of the state.
“We are prepared for the upcoming yuletide and there would be no chance or breathing space for criminals in the state henceforth,‘’ he said. (NAN)