Police arrest middle- aged man for unlawful possession of firearms, others
THE Edo State Police Command has arrested 41 years old Smart Amos for unlawful possession of firearms and willful damage.
The suspect was arrested in the forest of Agowie, Orhionmwon Council of the state. The suspect and others, now at large, who came to the village from Benin City heavily armed, went straight to the cassava farms in Agowie community linking Avbiugo where they harvested heavy tonnes of cassava.
During the operation, one of the farmers who saw them raised the alarm, which drew the attention of the vigilante team drawn from Avbiugo, Evbowie and lguohan villages.
The vigilante members then stormed the farm. Upon sighting the local security team, the suspects took to their heels, unfortunately, the suspect, Amos, was not lucky, as he was arrested while trying to escape. A locally made single barrel gun was recovered from him.
The suspect, while narrating his level of involvement, said the arms were made to prevent the farmers from attacking them during their stealing spree.
Amos will be charged to court soon.
Recall that Edo State Commissioner of Police, Funsho Adegboye, recently warned against unlawful possession of firearms and promised that the police would ensure people of the state sleep with their two eyes closed.
The incident occurred barely 24 hours after three staff members of Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc. were killed by gunmen while working in the company’s plantation in Benin, Edo State.
The Public Relations officer of the company, Fidelis Olise, said an unknown person did the killing. Expressing worry over the barbaric act, Olise said the company has always enjoyed a cordial relationship with the communities in the area.
He noted that he could not say whether members of the communities were involved in the attack. He said: “I can confirm to you that three of our staff were killed by gunmen on Monday while they were working on our plantation. “We enjoy cordial relationship with the communities around us and we cannot say whether members of the community were involved. However, the matter has been reported to the police and we hope justice would be done.”
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner of Police, Funsho Adegboye, has deployed more officers to the area to forestall a repeat of the attack.
He noted that preliminary findings showed that the gunmen came from the creek in a neighbouring state, stressing that efforts are on to arrest the culprits and bring them to book.