Navy hands over 28 suspects to police

The police in Benue State have confirmed taking into custody 28 suspects handed over to the command by the Navy on September 9 after raiding a village in Okpokwu where an illegal training was conducted by one Gabriel Sunday James.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for the command, Moses Joel Yamu, said items recovered from the arrested suspects, including their commander, included vital documents, 13 cutlasses, four motorcycles, nine wooden carved guns and one Tiger generator.

Yamu however said the police had not yet established that the arrested people were part of the criminals terrorising Okpokwu and its environs, however the command has since charged them to court.

It was also learnt that the suspects who were members of the illegal paramilitary outfit known as Coastal Defence Force consisted of young men in various ranks and files undergoing military training by the commander said to be a retired soldier.

The training base said to be located in a thick forest of a secluded area in OkpogaOkpokwu LGA was raided by the Navy after a sustained surveillance and intelligence gathering.

Leader of the Naval team that carried out the operation on September 6, Commodore Dolapo Kolawole, explained that a direct order was given to clampdown on the outfit which had since 2014.

The Commandant of the Nigerian Navy Provost and Regulating School in Makurdi, Commodore, Suleiman Aliyu Bello, who handed over the suspects to the state Commissioner of Police, Bashir Makama, for investigation and prosecution added that the formality was in conformity with the provisions of the law. illegal existed