2 Cameroonians, 3 others arrested over arms possession
The police in Benue State yesterday paraded two foreign nationals and three other Nigerians for allegedly being in possession of 378 live ammunitions when they were intercepted.
They were allegedly intercepted along Adikpo-Ugbama road in Kwande Local Government Area of the state.
The Commissioner of Police, Ene Okon, who paraded the suspects at the command’s headquarters in Makurdi, said men of the special outfit, Operation Zenda, were on stopand-search along Adikpo-Ugbama road when the suspects were nabbed in a black Toyota Camry car with registration number FST 51 AR, Lagos.
Okon said upon searching the vehicle, 378 live ammunitions of various calibers, a telescope, two knives and assorted charms were recovered.
He gave the names of the suspects as, Abah Dedon Kena, Alfous Amabo, Obono Ubi, Ibor Bassey and Obebem Sunday. He added that the matter was being investigated.
Meanwhile, one of the two Cameroonian suspects, Dedon Kena, told Daily Trust in an interview that they were not criminals but freedom fighters in their country that were sent by their community to buy ammunitions and that in going back, they had to pass through Nigeria.
Kena explained that the shortest route back to their Anglophone community was through a place called Mafe in the Francophone region which is presently at war with their own English speaking neighbours. So in order not to fall into the hands of their enemies, they had to pass through Benue State to return to their people with the arms purchase. It was on the return trip that they were arrested by the police.
The suspect added that the other three Nigerians were their local friends who they contacted to help them navigate through the borders of Benue and through Takum in Taraba State.