The Commander, 2nd Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Brig.-Gen. Koko Essien, told journalists on Thursday night that security personnel had arrested six suspected political thugs involved in electoral violence during the March 28 presidential elections in the state.
Essien said the suspects were arrested after an intense gun duel with his men. He said one suspect who escaped with gunshot wounds would soon be arrested.
Essien said, “We want journalists to have a view of the efforts we have been making in order to take out as much arms as possible from the streets and make the environment safe for people to vote.
“We have been conducting series of raids in areas that we have information especially on the concentration of hoodlums and political thugs.
“On Thursday, in Mile 3 area in a location popularly known as Barracks; we raided the place based on the information we got and recovered arms and ammunition.
“We arrested six suspects. One of them was shot and he is in the military hospital receiving treatment.
“Two AK-47 riffles with 176 rounds of live ammunitions, seven magazines, some 144 raps of Indian hemp, N298, 500.00 and 10 cell phones were recovered from the thugs.”
According to the military commander, security personnel have been deployed to hot spots in a bid to prevent lawlessness during today’s poll.
The leader of the suspects, Prince Uwabunkeonye, denied involvement in the March 28 violence, but admitted that about 144 raps of Indian hemp were recovered from his home during the raid.
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