Christopher Oji
The Lagos State Police Command has arrested 137 suspected cult members in different locations of the state.
The suspected cultists were observing the “7th day of the 7th month” celebration, where they initiate new members and celebrate their old members.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal, who paraded the suspects yesterday at the Command Headquarters, Ikeja, said that 120 were arrested in Ikorodu where they were observing ‘7-7’, undergoing initiation in preparation to unleash mayhem on the larger society.
Based on intelligence available to the command, which was communicated to the officer in charge of the Anti-Cultism Unit, who deployed plainclothes policemen to Ikorodu, police “efforts paid off last week while they were observing their nocturnal cult festival.”
He said: “You remember that I warned them not to converge on any part of the state, but they did not take my advise seriously as they went ahead to dare the command. Out of the 137 suspects arrested, 120 were rounded up in a hotel at Ikorodu while 17 were picked in Ogunbo area of Ajah. What is worrisome is that a whopping number of 120 suspected cultists were arrested the same time in a hotel. Cultists do nothing more than create violence, take drugs and engage in other criminal activities. The suspects were all members of Neo Black Movement.
“Recovered from them were one big banner ‘07’ with Neo Black Axe logo; a yellow keg containing three litres of liquid substance mixed with assorted drugs ‘skuchies,’ one big clay pot, two small calabashes and one locally made pistol,” Edgal said.
He noted that the police would profile the suspects and reach out to their parents or relatives to come for proper identification before they would be charged to court.
He blamed parents for not taking note of where their children were as at the time of their arrest.
He warned that the command would not tolerate any kind of gangsterism, cultism, armed robbery and any form of crime.
“There is no hiding place for criminals, as we are working in synergy with the members of the public who graciously pass information to us at any point in time.
“Our response time is very swift and we don’t disappoint our informants. The good news for criminals is that they have the opportunity to drop their criminal activities or to leave the state,” he said.