Operatives of the Intelligence Response Team under the leadership of the recently appointed IGP, Olatunji Disu, have arrested a suspected arms dealer, Joseph Okala, in Makurdi, Benue State with two Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG).
The 78-year-old, who claimed to be a farmer, was apprehended by the IRT at Ajetachi village, Makurdi, where he lives with his nine wives and 36 children.
Okala was among the 39 suspects paraded by the IRT in Abuja on Monday.
According the spokesman of the Nigeria Police Force, Frank Mba, the suspect was arrested on June 4 after two weeks of intelligence and surveillance.
Okala said he bought the dangerous weapons from bandits on behalf of some people who had contacted him to procure AK47 rifles for them.
He said, “One of my Agatu brothers came to see me after the death of our youth chairman and he asked me if he could get AK47 and I told him ‘e go hard o’. I told him I would search for it.
“Some boys normally come to my spare parts shop. They were talking about what was happening in their local government that Fulani people were disturbing them. So, I called the boy and I asked him if he could help me with the AK47. One week later, the boy called me and brought these (referring to the RPGs.)”
The police said the farmer was involved in the sales and re-sales of arms in Taraba and Benue States, noting that his activities had contributed to the proliferation and equipping of bandit groups in the region.
Mba listed items recovered from the 39 suspects to include 13 AK47 rifles; two RPGs; 750 AK47 live ammunition; 11 AK47 magazines; 30 live cartridges; 58 wraps of explosives suspected to be dynamite; one Thuraya handset; 157 new MTN SIM cards and other incriminating exhibits.
