No fewer than 21 commercial motorcyclists, said to have participated in the lynching of an operative of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on April 18, in Koroduma village have been arrested by police in Nasarawa.

This was disclosed by the state police commissioner Adesina Soyemi on Thursday in Lafia, while parading the suspects alongside 29 others arrested for allegedly committing various criminal offences.

He said that the Divisional Police Officer, New Karu Division, had on April 18, at about 9:30 p.m., received a distress call that commercial motorcyclists attacked an NDLEA personnel and were about to set his house  ablaze.

Mr Soyemi said upon receipt of the information, the DPO, anti-cultism unit and a crack-team led by the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of operations,  swiftly mobilised to the scene at Koroduma, One Man Village.

He said the police, on arrival at the scene, found the victim in the pool of his blood and  rushed him to the hospital where the doctor confirmed him dead.

The commissioner of police said that a manhunt for the perpetrators was immediately  launched, which paid off with the arrest of the 21 suspects who allegedly participated actively in the lynching of the NDLEA personnel to death.

He said that police recovered  weapons including stones, metals and other hard  objects used by the suspects to commit the crime as exhibits.

Mr Soyemi added that the suspects have made useful statements on the matter and that investigation was ongoing at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Lafia.

The CP, who reiterated the commitment of the Command to rid the state of criminal elements, gave highlights of the feat recorded between March and April to include the arrest of 12 suspected kidnappers and 11 cultists.

He said five others were arrested for sundry offences, while two firearms and two live ammunition were recovered within the period.

“The Command wants to assert firmly that the security of lives and property of every law-abiding citizen is its topmost priority and will not shirk away from this responsibility, ” he said.

“The State Police Command is, however,  warning strongly, all criminal elements in the state who may be nursing an agenda that are inimical to the state and security, to desist from such acts.

“The police will not relent in mobilising all resources at its disposal to frontally confront and render their operations fruitless,” Mr Soyemi said. 

NAN