The Anambra State Police Command on Tuesday paraded thirty five cult suspects at the Police Headquarters in Amawbia, Awka South Local Government Area of the state.

Speaking at the event, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Garba Umar, regretted a situation where the lives of sixteen young men were gunned down in a space of two weeks by suspected cultists within the state capital.

He called on religious leaders, community leaders as well as the general public to play their roles towards enthroning peace in the state by availing the Police and other law enforcement agencies with useful information that would assist them in “unbundling the criminal acts and tendencies”.

While giving the ages of the suspects to be between 20 and 34, the CP said the police would charge the suspects to court for murder.

He gave the names of the ringleaders of the arrested suspects as Chukwudi Machie (34), Chukwudi Igwegbe (32), Onyeka Ibanugo (28), Ifeanyi Anazodo (28) and Chukwuemeka Nwokoye (32).

Umar explained that the listed suspects had already confessed to being members of Black Axe/Vickings Fraternity and are directly linked with the ongoing cult activities in Awka as well as the alleged murder of several persons.

According to him, the suspects also engaged in other forms of criminal activities which include extortion, housebreaking and housebreaking.

His words: “It would be recalled that in the past few days, activities of secret cults in the State has taken an alarming dimension following a fierce battle of supremacy between rival cult groups leading to loss of lives and wanton destruction of properties.

“These dastardly acts perpetrated by misguided youths usually under the influence of hard drugs use offensive weapons such as guns, machetes, knives and so on to intimidate, assault, maim and even kill their perceived rivals including innocent citizens in the state.”

The CP further stated that the worrisome trend of criminality and other nefarious activities has made the command to review its crime prevention strategies and subsequently embarked on intensive patrol, aggressive raid of black spots/ flash points and other criminal hideouts in order to nip in the bud all forms of crime and criminality in the state.

He added: “My strategies have started yielding results with the arrest of thirty-five suspected cult members belonging to different sect groups from various black spots within the state particularly in Awka, Obosi, Enugu-Ukwu and Okija.

“The Command is determined to ensure that criminals have no hiding place in the State.”

Items recovered from the suspects to include: two locally made double barrel pistols, One English Bareta Pistol, one AK 47 rifle; one Single Barrel short gun, fifteen rounds of 7.62 live ammunition; three cartridges and a red Toyota Matrix Car with Reg. No EKY 879 EN snatched from one Evbadolovi Omorogbe at Benin City, Edo State.

He said the suspects would be charged to court following the completion of investigations which is ongoing.

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