46 suspected cultists arrested in UniAbuja students settlement

Forty six persons suspected to be cultists were yesterday arrested by the FCT Police Command at a village in Gwagwalada populated mostly by students of the University of Abuja. It was gathered that the suspected cultists, mostly students of the University of Abuja, were arrested around 4:00am at a forested area of the village, when […]

Forty six persons suspected to be cultists were yesterday arrested by the FCT Police Command at a village in Gwagwalada populated mostly by students of the University of Abuja.

It was gathered that the suspected cultists, mostly students of the University of Abuja, were arrested around 4:00am at a forested area of the village, when some vigilante members came across them and informed the police, who then swooped in on them.

Confirming the arrest, the spokesman of the police in the FCT, DSP Anjuguri Manzah, said they were arrested at Gwako village in Gwagwalada. He said the suspects were among the syndicate of cultists that have been terrorising the area, which is a student settlement.

“We recovered two locally made pistols from them. They are still in custody and investigation is currently ongoing,” he added.

While efforts to get official reaction of the University’s spokesperson, Dr. Habeeb Yakub, was unsuccessful as at press time, a source in the school’s press unit, told one of our reporters anonymously that a yet to be ascertain number of those arrested are believed to be students of the institution.

The source said the university had its matriculation on Saturday and that the cultist group decided to use the opportunity to initiate new members.

“Some of the vigilante guys have been observing strange movement and there is information on kidnapping and abduction and the university got information and informed the police command and in the morning while they were coming back from the initiation, they were arrested,” the source said. He added that as there was no space to put them in Gwagwalada police station, they were taken to the FCT police command headquarters.

“I can’t confirm if all were students, but some of the 46 suspects arrested are students. Two local pistols and a round cartridge was said to have been retrieved from them,” the source added.