Gunrunner conveying arms to Kaduna arrested in Delta

The Delta State Police Command has arrested a suspected gunrunner (name withheld) from Kaduna while transporting seven pump-action guns concealed in a vehicle along the Benin-Asaba Expressway on Monday.

It was learnt in an interrogation video shared on X by the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, Bright Edafe, on Monday, that several rounds of ammunition were recovered in the vehicle.

Edafe noted that some police operatives on a stop-and-search duty had intercepted a vehicle conveying food items but during a diligent search of the vehicle, the guns that were carefully concealed under the seat of the vehicle were discovered.

He narrated that the suspect, upon interrogation, disclosed that he purchased the guns at the Onitsha market and he was transporting them to Kaduna before he was arrested.

Edafe said, “We have always continued to reiterate the importance of stopping and searching while discharging our duty. This is what we have been able to recover in the course of our duty. These are seven pump-action guns.

“Today, our operatives attached to the Dragon Unit while on a stop-and-search duty along the Benin-Asaba Expressway just by the National Open University intercepted this vehicle carrying oil, rice, garri and other things and the policemen in their smartness, sighted these cartridges hidden under the seat of the vehicle. The cartridges comprised 32 rounds in a pack of 50 hidden under the seats of the vehicles.

“When you see policemen going in-depth during stop-and-search, people will say they are just determined to look for offence at all costs. Imagine what these arms will do in the hands of criminals.

During interrogation, the suspect whose face was hidden, noted that he had purchased each of the guns at the rate of N1.8m while the bullets were purchased for N47,000 per pack.

The suspect added that the food items he was conveying were not meant to conceal the guns he was carrying but for another purpose.

“We got the guns at the Onitsha market. Each one is N1.3m. I bought the cartridges separately at N47,000. I am taking the guns to Kaduna. I put the guns and the cartridges under the seat and I covered them with paper.

“I am the owner of the oil and the garri. I bought them because I want to use them. I did not use them to conceal the guns. This is my first time doing this,” he said.

The PPRO urged residents of the state to stay away from crime.