Two suspected armed men with a large
cache of arms have been arrested by the
Benue State Police Command. The armed men who were alleged to have in
recent time been terrorizing Kwande,
Vandeikya and Ushongo local government
areas of the state were nabbed following a
tip off. Commissioner of Police, Mr. Adams Audu,
while parading the suspects at the
Command headquarters in Makurdi, said,
the gang was arrested at their operational
base and hideout at Tsemke village,
Vandeikya while preparing for an operation. According to him, the gang had been
responsible for grave robbery and killings in
that area of the state, adding that three
members of the gang however, escaped
during an exchange of gunfire with his men. Audu said, “today (last Wednesday) at about
11:30 hours, a team of Police Patrol
Officers while on duty at Vandeikya
received a distress call that a gang of armed
robbers was in their hide out at Tsemke
village preparing to strike their victims. “The patrol officers stormed the area, and
on arriving at the scene, they were greeted
with a heavy gunfire by the suspected
armed men, and during the exchange of
gunfire, Messrs Terkimbi Msuega and
Aondohemba Tyo were arrested while three others escaped. My men also recovered
from the gang, one AK-47 rifle with 30
rounds of live ammunition; one FMC rifle
with 18 rounds of live ammunition. “Also recovered were one pump action rifle
with seven rounds of live cartridges; 12
empty shells of expended ammunition, five
extra magazines with 150 rounds of live
ammunition and one blue Volkswagen
Sharon bus with registration number Benue, WNN 59 XA.” Audu therefore asked for the co-operation
of members of the public to enable his
command achieve its set targets. While hinting that his men were on the trail
of the other three fleeing suspects, Mr.
Audu called for vigilance and urged the
people of the state to avail the police of
information that would lead to their arrest.
