The Enugu state Police arrested 35 suspected criminals in Enugu.

The Enugu state Police arrested 35 suspected criminals in Enugu.

The Enugu state police had paraded about 35 suspected criminals with a warning on Biafra agitators to stay clear of the state on May 30.

Anaedoonline reported that the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, had asked Ndigbo to stay home on Thursday May 30.

However, after a show of force that took a joint team of security forces to the nooks and crannies of Enugu state, the state police command asked residents to defy the order and go about their lawful duties.

Briefing journalists in Enugu after the joint show of force involving the police, army, DSS and civil defence corps, state commissioner of police, Suleiman Balarabe, assured of maximum protection of residents, stressing that it was unlawful for any group, outside government, to ask residents to stay away from duties.

“The issue of declaration of public holiday is strictly a government affair, not by any individual or group. On 30th of May, we will be all out to protect residents who are going about their lawful duties. It will be an affront for anybody or group of persons to want to stop people from work or their business”, he stated.

Balarabe, while parading the suspects, said they were involved in crimes such as armed robbery, cultism, kidnapping, child trafficking and car snatching, adding that Enugu was a no-go area for criminals.

Among those paraded were some secondary school dropouts who were undergoing initiation into the Vikings cult group, allegedly, after taking ten bottles of hard liquor.

The commissioner stated that cultism had become high in the state due to the increasing number of tertiary institutions. He stated that another syndicate that specialised in house breaking, was caught with 69 laptops stolen from a shop in Enugu.

The police commissioner disclosed that one Musa from Adamawa state and Abbas Adamu from Plateau state, who arrived Enugu on Monday with the purpose of stealing and causing mayhem in the state were arrested with various dangerous weapons during a stop-and-search exercise.

He added that one Kelechi Emmanuel from River state kidnapped four-year-old Solomon Chukwu and demanded a ransom of four hundred thousand naira from his parents but was arrested while trying to sell the boy. He stated that Abubakar Musa, a notorious kidnapper at the Gariki market in New Artisan Market, was also arrested with over one million naira suspected to be proceeds from kidnapping business.

He called on the residents of the state to be security-conscious and report any suspected movement around their neighbourhood, assuring that the police were ever ready to rid the state of crime.