By George Onah
PORT HARCOURT — No fewer than 71 armed robbery suspects have been arrested, while 19 robbery gangs were smashed last month in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, by the state Police Command, Commissioner of Police, Mr. Suleiman Abba, has said.

Also, Governor Chibuike Amaechi has vowed to imprison any local government area chairman found to be directly or indirectly involved in cultism, saying  that he will initiate all legal processes to ensure the arrest and prosecution of such a chairman.

However, chronicling the successes of his command at Elimgbu Divisional Police Headquarters, Port Harcourt, Mr. Abba said that in the course of intense search of some vehicles in the city, the police recovered two AK 47 assault rifles and several rounds of ammunition neatly parked in the engine compartment of a Mercedes Benz car.

He said the robbery gang. which was intercepted at Eleme Junction was sighted while sharing ammunition in their car, adding that on seeing the police heading towards them, the robbers took to their heels but one of them was shot and arrested.

But the suspect, he said, was later confirmed dead at the hospital, where he was taken  and that intensive search to arrest the fleeing suspects has been mounted, adding that the police were bent on combating and chasing criminals out of the state.

“This is just to tell you that our fight against crime generally is a daily affair, give us the information we will always deal with them have the confidence that whatever you give to us will always be treated with utmost confidentiality and all those involved would be arrested”, he said.

On his party, harping on the illegality of council chairmen in encouraging cultism, Governor Amaechi said, “I will not condone any act that promotes cult activities in the state and I will not hesitate to order the arrest and prosecution of any local government area chairman indicted by security report on issues of cultism in the state. I have no business with cultists.”