A COMBINED team of policemen attached to Ekpan Division and military personnel of 3 Battalion, Nigerian Army, Ekpan, while on a sting operation, has recovered a large cache of assorted arms from criminals terrorising the area.
A statement by the Delta State Police Command spokesman, Bright Edafe, said following complaints from residents of Ekpan and environs over the activities of kidnappers and armed robbers in the area, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Wale Abass, ordered the deployment of Mr. Aliyu Shaba (CSP) from Ovwain-Aladja Division to Ekpan Divisional Police Station, with a clear mandate to sanitise the area and ensure that Ekpan and environs were safe for all resident.
He stated that consequently, Shaba, acting on credible intelligence gathered on the hideout of suspected criminals and the location of their weapons, on Monday, July 3, this year, about 4pm, led the team on a raid of the criminals’ hideouts in an uncompleted building on Agadaga Avenue, off Jakpa Road, Ekpan, where a thorough search lead to the recovery of the arms and ammunition from the fleeing criminals.
Edafe listed the arms and ammunition to include one AK-47 rifle, with five magazines loaded with 161 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition; one assault riffle with two magazines, loaded with 59 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition; two English pump-action guns; 110 rounds of live cartridges; one double barrel gun; one single barrel gun; one toy gun; cutlasses and a bunch of charms wrapped in a cap.
The Police spokesman assured that frantic efforts to arrest the criminal syndicate were ongoing, adding that the Police commissioner has urged residents of the state to always avail the Police of any useful information that could aid crime fighting.
