No fewer than 30 suspects were on Friday paraded by the Police Command in Enugu State for various crimes perpetrated within the state in the past one month.

The Command also recovered 15 assorted rifles and ammunition as well as other exhibits of crime from the suspects.

Parading the suspects on Friday in Enugu, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Sulaiman Balarabe, said that in the period under review the Command arrested suspects that were involved in the killing of two Catholic Priests in the state.

Balarabe noted that four suspects believed to have murdered Rev. Fr. Clement Ugwu in March 13, 2019, were apprehended by the operatives of the Command in Lagos and Ogun states.

“They have made useful confessionary statements of their involvement in the murder of the Catholic Priest, Rev. Fr. Clement Ugwu after painstaking investigation of the case for some months now.

“Also, another four suspects involved in the recent murder of Rev. Fr. Paul Offu and the kidnap of a monarch and his wife in the Awgu Local Government Area on Aug. 1 and Aug. 2 are currently in police custody.

“The four suspects were arrested in Benue and Abia States and they have also confessed to the crime as well.

“While the Command had intensified its investigation and manhunt for the remaining four suspects mentioned to be involved in the recent criminal activities in Awgu axis of the state,” he said.

According to him, the recent suspects arrested in connection with the murder and kidnap in Awgu had bedeviled the state with heinous crimes and it is good that are in police custody for good.

He noted that the Command had provided more security to the Catholic Priests as a way to forestall any further future occurrence.

“We have informed them to inform the police whenever they have a function or suspect that some criminals are lurking around their domains,” he said.

The commissioner, however, said that apart from those suspects involved in heinous crimes; the Command arrested score of cultists, who had been terrorising members of the public and neighbourhoods in the state.

“The activities of these cultists had led to destruction of property and injuries to themselves and unsuspecting members of the public as well.

“However, the Command is resolute in check cultism and all forms of its manifestation,” he said.

The Police Commissioner noted that the operatives of the Command also arrested some armed robbers and criminals that engaged burglary as well as a gun manufacturer in Udi Local Government Area of the state.

He added that the Command had placed additional security operatives and strategies in various axis of the state where criminals usually use as easy attack points especially along Enugu-Port Harcourt Road and some communities.

“I will assure the good people of Enugu State that the Command is working tirelessly to ensure that criminal elements are apprehended and the state remains safe and secured.

“The Command will never rest on its responsibility until criminals are brought to book; while the state will continue to remain the safest state in the country,” he said.

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