Police uncover illegal gun factory in Benue, arrest 3

The police in Benue State have uncovered an illegal local gun manufacturing factory in Oju Local Government Area of Benue State. The Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, yesterday led his men to the site of the factory located at Amyuwogbu-Ibilla in Oju where the suspect, Abi Odah, was arrested along with his son, Kingsley Abi […]

The police in Benue State have uncovered an illegal local gun manufacturing factory in Oju Local Government Area of Benue State.

The Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, yesterday led his men to the site of the factory located at Amyuwogbu-Ibilla in Oju where the suspect, Abi Odah, was arrested along with his son, Kingsley Abi and one other, Thomas Ode alias Tommy Tommy.

Owoseni who also paraded the three suspects before newsmen at the Oju Divisional Police headquarters in Oju, explained that his men were originally investigating a case of abduction and rape when they stumbled on the discovery.

He said 19-year-old Kingsley and his friend, Tommy, 17, were earlier apprehended following an allegation of abduction and rape of a 15-year-old girl but that while the police operatives were tracing evidence of the crime to Kingsley’s home, they found prohibited items in his father’s workshop behind their house.

The commissioner added that, further search into the activities of Abi, who was popularly known as a blacksmith, revealed he was fabricating dangerous weapons while disguising them as Dane guns for hunters.

“Some of the locally fabricated equipment were AK 47 prohibited ammunitions,” Owoseni said.

The suspect, Abi, however denied that all the tools belonged to him despite admitting that he manufactures Dane guns for hunters and has sold many of them to those who patronised him.