In Enugu State, the police have detained 26 members of several cult organisations.
They were charged on Thursday and lodged in the Correctional Service after appearing before an Enugu magistrate court.
According to Obasanjonews24, the arrest happened in the midst of a rival cult battle that is still going on in the State and has already claimed over 30 lives in the cities of Nsukka, Agbani, and Enugu.
This was confirmed in a statement provided the media by DSP Daniel Ndukwe, the police public relations officer.
He said that they were detained by police officers from the command’s anti-cultism squad and then charged in court.
Between 18 and 40 years old are the suspects.
Ndukwe claimed that the suspects, all male and participated in the cult conflict, admitted to belonging to the Supreme Vikings and Black Axe Confraternities.
According to preliminary findings, several Black Axe fraternity members planned to shoot and seriously wound a Supreme Vikings fraternity member in the arm on March 29, 2023, in Emene, Enugu.
“Upon learning of the information, members of the Supreme Vikings Confraternity conspired and declared war against members of the Black Axe Confraternity in support of their murdered member. This has resulted in homicidal armed attacks between the secret cult groups in various locations throughout Enugu City, Agbani, and the Nsukka areas of the State.
The findings further show that the assaults resulted in the deaths of an unknown number of people on various dates and at unknown times in the aforementioned places.
While urgent operational and investigative efforts are underway to locate and prosecute additional perpetrators of the act, the suspects were today, April 20, 2023, arraigned in court and detained in the Nigerian Correctional Custodial Centre.
The Commissioner has additionally urged parents, guardians, community leaders, and religious figures in the State to warn and discourage their children, wards, or subjects from participating in covert cults and the criminal activities that go along with them because the Police will not hesitate to deal decisively with anyone apprehended in accordance with the law.
In addition, he urges the populace to help the police by swiftly reporting criminal suspects and their activities, including those of covert cults, to the closest police station, according to Ndukwe.
