Anambra State Police Command has paraded thirty-five suspects following crash between cult groups and illicit drug traffickers yesterday in Nnewi.
The parade was carried out by the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Haruna Mohammed at the headquarters of State Criminal Investigation Department SCID in Amawbia.
Parading the suspects, Mr Haruna said that at about 10:am a clash between a cult group and drugs traffickers at 100 foot road Nnewi, resulted to a serious pandemonium in the area which police patrol teams in conjunction with local vigilante group quickly mobilised to the scene and arrested four suspects on the spot.
According to the Police image maker, the hoodlums consequently blocked the road and set fire on saw dust in a bid to prevent the police from taking the suspects to the station and the fire overwhelmed the people who tried to put it off which extended to the timber market.
Mohammed added that the 35 suspects arrested have in their procession, an axe, dried leaves suspected to be cannabis sativa and a motorcycle were recovered from them.
He recalled how the police patrol team attached to Otolo Division and three vehicles belonging to the Vigilante groups were stoned by the rampaging youth.
He noted that investigation is on going into individual involvement at the incident after which they will be charged to court while others who have no involvement will be sent free.
He noted that normalcy was restored in the area and market as the command has deployed more security operatives to boost residents’ confidence to go about their normal businesses in the area.
In an interview one of the suspects, Mr. Ikechukwu Okeke from Otolo Nnewi who said he works as security guard in a hotel narrated how some cultists numbering over twenty persons approached him at his work place with machetes and guns and threatened to kill him before he managed to escape with the help of police officers.
