Police parade 13 suspects in Akwa Ibom

The Akwa Ibom State Police Command has paraded 13 suspected criminals arrested during the Christmas holiday.Briefing journalists in Uyo on Thursday, the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Onyekaozuru Orji, said four of the bandits, who were arrested on December 26, attempted to infiltrate the state through Ibeno in order to unleash mayhem on members of the public.The all-male suspects including Eyo Okon, Effiong Emmanuel, Joshua Bassey and Emem Etukudo were said to have been arrested through the help of youths in the community.He said, Items recovered from the hoodlums include a fully-loaded G3 rifle with serial number 120413, one locally-made pistol with 50 live cartridges, one 25mp Yamaha outboard engine and a bag which contained items suspected to be charms.Also, another suspect, Emem Essien, was arrested by police operatives on December 20 at Ifa Ikot Okpon village in Uyo Local Government Area. Prior to his arrest, the suspect had been involved in many kidnappings. One double-barrelled gun with 15 live cartridges, one English Beretta pistol and 20 live ammunition were recovered from him.The policemen were said to have raided a criminal hideout on December 27 at Ekom Iman Junction, Uyo.It was learnt that one Volvo car with fake number plate AA 883 AED, which did not tally with registration number FE 704 APP written on its glass, was recovered during the operation.Also recovered during the raid were a Nissan Sunny car with registration number AA 662 ETN; Nissan Primera car with registration number AE 78 DUU and Mitsubishi bus with registration number CC 384 KSF.One of the suspects, Otobong Akpan, who was said to be from Ikono Local Government Area, had allegedly killed two persons in the past. But the suspect maintained his innocence, stating that he was framed up.I did not do anything wrong. Some people fought and cut off my brothers hand and when I tried to avenge, the police came and arrested me, Akpan said.Another suspect, Itoro Effiong, from Idoro in Uyo Local Government was accused of raping a married woman. He, however, said he was accused falsely, and fingered one of the suspects as the culprit.The police spokesperson urged members of the public to always volunteer information that would aid the police to combat crimes.He said the police were determined to stamp out any crimes in the state, adding that residents of the state should go about their lawful business without fear.Meanwhile, Orji said the police had intensified efforts to apprehend other fleeing criminals.
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