By CHARLES IWUOHA

No fewer than 15 suspected hoodlums were arrested by Ebubeagu security outfit on Saturday for allegedly terrorising citizens of Abakaliki metropolis and involvement in other various crimes in the state.

The suspects were arrested during a stop and search operation carried out by the Ebubeagu security operatives in various streets of Abakaliki metropolis.

Speaking to journalists in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, the Special Assistant to the Governor on Internal Security, Eze Ikechukwu Patrick, said the suspects were arrested with locally-made gun and have been handed over to the Commissioner of Police, Ebonyi State Command, for further investigation and action.

“Those boys are the major suspects that are terrorizing the state and we apprehended them yesterday night with a locally made rifle.

“You can see, we handed them over to the police for further investigation. They are fifteen in number but we still have others left we took to the venue of the crime for investigation. We will equally hand them over to the police.

“We arrested some of them at Gariki, the ‘burying ground,’ while other ones are arrested at the Centenary City. None of them are students. Most of them are cultists.

“We arrested some of them during our stop-and-search operations. There is peace already in Ebonyi since the arrest of the suspects.

“They are the major Taliban’s that are disturbing the people of the state and we have peacefully handed them over to the police,” the Special Assistant to the Governor on Security said.

When contacted for confirmation, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Ebonyi State Command, DSP Loveth Odah, said she was not aware of the development.

“I am not aware that Ebubeagu handed over suspects. They may have arrested and handed over to the police but I’m not aware as the spokesperson of the police command,” she said.