25 Boko Haram suspects arrested in Enugu

A team of policemen on  patrol  in Nsukka area of Enugu State   yesterday arrested 25  suspected members of the Boko Haram sect.

The suspects  were being conveyed by a young driver and an aging conductor in a Toyota bus, belonging to the Zamfara State Government with registration number XA 581 MRD.

Some of the items recovered from the suspects were  guns, unexpended bullets, daggers and battle  axes.

Police source said the suspects, who were coming from  Zamfara State, were intercepted at Okpuje, a border town  between Enugu and Kogi State.

He said the police patrol team had, in their routine stop-and-search, halted the vehicle, adding that upon opening their bags, discovered the weapons.

“We were on our normal  stop-and-search when we  suspected the vehicle, and we  asked them where they were coming from. They said they were Zamfara indigenes, coming to do business in Enugu State.

“At that stage, we ordered them to open their bags and when they did, we discovered that arms and ammunition  were properly concealed in most of them. We are still wondering how they were able to beat all the security posts all the way from Zamfara to this place’, a policeman who does not want his name mentioned in print asked.

 On arrival at the   police station, more arms were  recovered from other bags which the suspects claimed contained foodstuff.

However, there was  a mild drama  at the Nsukka Police Division where the suspects were immediately taken to when the new Divisional Police Officer (DPO), in a very unfriendly mood, told newsmen that “you are just coming here now and you are already insinuating that they are Boko Haram members; they are hunters and not members of Boko Haram”.