C/River warns house owners against harbouring cult members, kidnappers

Tue, Jun 16, 2020
By publisher
3 MIN READ

Security

THE Cross River Government has warned house owners in Calabar to desist from harbouring suspected cult members and kidnappers in their houses or face the wrath of the law.

Mr Ani Esin, the State Security Adviser to Gov. Ben Ayade in charge of Southern Senatorial District, gave the advice on Tuesday in Calabar.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Esin gave the advice during an operation in Calabar metropolis to chase out some suspects who had been declared wanted for various crimes.

He said that as patriotic citizens, it was the duty of all house owners to know the occupation of their tenants and report those with suspicious moves and criminal activities to security agencies.

Esin, in company of personnel from the state Anti-Robbery Squad, visited the houses of some of the suspects on the state government wanted list.

They team burnt down some of the suspects items including clothes, mattresses and cooking utensils.

He explained that the move was to send a signal to the suspects that the state government and security agencies had launched a manhunt to arrest them.

NAN recalls that on May 28, three houses and a brothel owned by a suspected kidnapper and a suspected cult member who were linked with various deaths and kidnapped cases in Calabar, were demolished by security agencies.

“The exercise to make sure that Calabar is safe is still ongoing and we are combing the entire hideout of criminals and hoodlums; though some of them are still on the run, we will definitely catch them.

“We are on course to ensure that we return the city of Calabar to what it used to be and to make it better for the future.

“We had already declared over 30 persons wanted and we are not stopping until we get them arrested and prosecuted.

“We have achieved a lot because some of the high calibre suspects on our wanted list are in our net as we speak. We will stop at nothing to ensure that the rest are brought to book,” he said.

The governor’s aide frowned at the high level of youth involvement in various crimes, adding that cultism, kidnapping and robbery do not pay.

He also told NAN that they had arrested a suspected murderer, Effiong Okon-Bassey, who was recently granted amnesty from the Correctional Centre, for his alleged involvement in the murder of a legal practitioner in Calabar.

“We are using this medium to inform landlords in Calabar to check who their tenants or occupants of their houses are and report those with suspicious moves to security agencies in the state.

“We are calling on people with useful and timely information to come up and help us to fight criminality to a standstill in the state,” he said. (NAN)

– Jun. 16, 2020 @ 12:38 GMT |

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