Police Parade 40 In Cross River, Say Attack On Security Agencies Barbaric

By CrossRiverWatch Admin

The Cross River command of the Nigerian Police Force on Tuesday paraded 40 suspects arrested from different parts of the State for various offences.

The Commissioner of Police, CP Sikiru Akande said the offenses ranged from murder to armed robbery, rape, stealing, malicious damage, unlawful possession of firearms, gangsterism and dealing in hard drugs.

Items recovered from the suspects include 100 wraps of Indian hemp of different sizes, 99 pieces of cocaine wraps, 65 pieces of another substance known as ‘Thailand’ and locally made pistols among others.

He sought the support of the public to go after criminals in other to arrest the growing insecurity witnessed across the country, a situation he described as “worrisome” and “barbaric.”.

“I want to state clearly that what we are witnessing concerning different levels of attacks nationwide on security agencies and destruction of facilities is worrisome, barbaric and a sign of danger that requires response from critical stakeholders in curbing the ugly trend, irrespective of tribe, religious and cultural differences,” he said.

Akande who blamed the rising crime rate on the increased consumption of hard drugs, also posited that the security challenges was not the problem of the Police alone as a high level of commitment is needed from the citizenry via information gathering and sharing with relevant authorities.

“Hard drugs play major role in aiding men of the underworld, they use many substances to boost their ego to commit these dastardly acts but we have heightened our patrols as we have also keyed into the Inspector General of Police agenda of reducing crime and criminality to it’s barest minimum,” Akande said.

Among those paraded were two Cameroonians for alleged arms dealing and one, Victor Isong, for allegedly killing the monarch of Ajasor community in the Etung Local Government Area of Cross River State, Chief Nkang Ochung, an allegation he denied.

Isong, 39 claimed that he was not in the community when the monarch was murder and blamed his enemies whom he said had succeeded in implicating him.

But, the Cameroonians, Ayuk Serge Enow, 35 and Ojong Valentine, 28 said they visited Calabar to buy arms from one Ogbuagu Emmanuel and return to their base in Cameroon.