Police in Rivers State said it had commenced mopping up of illegal firearms used by vigilante groups in the state and Neighbourhood Watch Corps.
The command said the move followed a directive from the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris.
This was part of a statement in Port Harcourt, the state capital by the Public Relations Officer, DSP Nnamdi Omoni.
The command noted that based on the IGP’s order, the Police Commissioner in the state, Ahmed Zaki, had constituted a special task force to recover arms from vigilante members.
Omoni urged all vigilante members in the state to willingly submit their arms to the Police within the next 21 days, warning that anyone who failed to surrender his will be arrested and prosecuted.
Omoni’s statement said, “Any person or group of persons bearing prohibited firearm or any locally-fabricated firearm, pump action, double/single-barrelled guns or any modified weapon fashioned to kill or cause harm, panic or breach of the peace or threat to law and order in the state, should, as a matter of urgency, surrender same to the task force set up by the Commissioner of Police within the next 21 days, which started running from February 22.”
According to him, “the task force has been mandated to embark on raids, cordon-and-search, seizure from any premises, hideouts, houses or buildings or sites (completed or under construction) or any other location where illegal/ prohibited firearms are kept or, on reasonable suspicion.”
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