Police arrest 80 suspects over cultism, POS fraud in Edo

The Police Command in Edo says it has arrested 80 suspects for various criminal activities as part of efforts to reduce crimes and ensure a peaceful yuletide in the state.

The Edo Police Commissioner, Muhammed Dankwara, said the suspects were arrested in the ongoing clampdown against criminals, which began on December 1.

The Commissioner, who spoke to newsmen in Benin while parading the suspects, said they were arrested for robbery, point-of-sale (POS) fraud, unlawful possession of ATM cards, and cultism.

The offences also included car snatching, unlawful possession of fire and kidnapping.

Commenting on the POS fraud, the Commissioner urged members of the public to be vigilant so that they would not fall prey to the operators.

“Do not give POS operators the opportunity to see your pin as well as the privilege of time to manipulate and give you an old ATM card,” he said.

According to him, the majority of the suspects were arrested for cultism, alleging that they had intelligence that highly placed individuals were supporting and behind cult groups.

“This is to warn either those in government or outside that are supporting a cult group tactically or financially to desist from it because anybody, no matter how highly placed, would be prosecuted.”

He called on cult groups to desist from their criminal acts as the clampdown would continue since there was no benefit to being a cult member.

“Anywhere we know that there are cultists, whether individual houses or public places, we would go there and arrest them,” he added.