Tony John, Port Harcourt
Rivers State Police Command has arrested a man suspected to be supplying guns to cultists and kidnappers in the state.
State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Usman Belel, disclosed this yesterday, when he paraded the suspect, Uche Ogbuka, alongside other 20 criminals arrested at different parts of the state.
Belel said Ogbuka was arrested in Rumuji community in Emohua Local Government Area of the state, by the operatives of anti-cultism unit (ACU) and men of the Rumuji Police Station.
Addressing the press in Port Harcourt, the state police boss noted that the achievement was a result of police increased effort to end crime in the state, adding that the command has improved its crime-fighting strategy.
Belel noted that Ogbuka supplied guns to the criminals and cultists terrorising the East-West Road, adding that the suspect sold over six rifles to kidnappers in the state.
However, Ogbuka has expressed worries that his accomplice in the crime, who, he said, hails from Anambra State, has been released.
He disclosed that he was a hunter and had contact of the gunrunner in Anambra State, who supplied guns and ammunition for him, adding that the same man provided the guns he sells to cultists.
He said: “I am a civil servant. I work in court. Before I got the job, I was a hunter. There was a man, who was supplying me cartridges when I was into hunting. “Last month, he called me to say that police arrested him. When I got there, the police said he indicted me in his statement. He said he gave me one pump actions last year. I told him that I gave it to ‘Uchman,’ the person he said I should give it to.
“When police got Uchman, he (Uchman) accepted I gave him the gun. But, the guy (Uchman) escaped from the police custody. I have supplied five pump action guns, but they came from my customer in Anambra State.
“He brings the guns. Police have released the man and brought me here. He is the person who brings the guns. I am not a criminal.”