The Bayelsa State Police Command has ordered intensified operations against cult groups and warned their members, sponsors and collaborators that they would be arrested and prosecuted as renewed cult violence in Yenagoa, the state capital, has reportedly claimed at least three lives in three days.

The Commissioner of Police, Ajao Saka Adewale, directed Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) and tactical commanders to step up patrols in vulnerable areas, identify emerging threats and act promptly on credible intelligence about planned clashes, initiation ceremonies and recruitment.

The directive followed reports of renewed clashes between rival cult groups in parts of Yenagoa, raising concerns among residents and threatening the relative calm that had prevailed in the state capital in recent months.

According to information by The Guardian, at least three people have reportedly been killed in the renewed violence.

In one of the incidents, a woman, said to be the mother of a leader of one of the rival groups, reportedly lost a hand while attempting to protect her son, who was subsequently killed in the Agudama area of Yenagoa.

At Swali, an area notorious for cult-related activities and gangsterism, a young man who reportedly took to roadside trading after losing his job at a filling station was attacked and shot.

He was said to have survived the attack.

Another young man, described by residents as popular in the St Peter’s Street area of Down Yenagoa, was reportedly shot dead.

Reacting to the developments, the police commissioner ordered the command’s formations across the state to intensify operations against cultism and related violence.

The command’s spokesperson, DSP Musa Mohammed, said the police were also strengthening engagement with community leaders to identify tensions before they escalate.

He said officers had been directed to respond swiftly whenever attacks occur, secure affected areas, investigate those responsible and prevent retaliatory violence.

“Cult groups contemplating an attack or reprisal should be under no illusion: the command will pursue them and their sponsors and get them,” Mohammed quoted the commissioner as saying.

The command also warned that it would not spare anyone found to have organised, financed, facilitated or participated in cult-related crimes, irrespective of their status or influence.

The police spokesperson said the Bayelsa State Secret Cults/Societies and Similar Activities (Prohibition) Law, 2012, as amended in 2018, prohibits membership and sponsorship of secret cults and provides criminal penalties upon conviction.

The command said suspects would be prosecuted where investigations establish sufficient evidence, while assuring residents that due process would be followed.

The police urged parents and guardians to warn their children and wards against cult involvement, while calling on residents to report planned attacks, recruitment drives and other suspicious activities to the nearest police station.

The command also cautioned residents against reprisal attacks, harbouring suspects or spreading unverified information capable of escalating tensions.

“Report threats early; do not take the law into your own hands,” the command urged.