The Bayelsa State Police Command has arrested three suspected cult members in Yenegwe, in the Yenagoa area of the state.
The suspects – Godstime Atiburuzi, 21; Righteous Bonnafor, 20, and Godgift Ebi, 18– said to be ringleaders of the Bobos cult, were reportedly apprehended by detectives attached to the Igbogene Police Division.
PUNCH Metro learnt that in the course of the arrests, Atiburuzi, who wanted to escape, shot the police inspector who led the team in the hand.
The inspector was said to have survived the attack and was admitted to an undisclosed hospital where he was being treated.
A source said the suspects had been on the police wanted list for a long time, adding that while Atiburuzi was arrested on Monday, Bonafor and Ebi were apprehended on Tuesday.
The source explained that the police, in a renewed effort to clamp down on suspected cult members in the state, had intensified operations on ringleaders of cult groups.
He noted that the command had got the names of some cult members terrorising some areas of the state, adding that they would soon be apprehended.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Bayelsa State Command, Mr. Asinim Butswat, in a statement on Wednesday, said Atiburuzi gave the police information that led to the arrest of the other two suspects.
Butswat, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said, “On April 30, 2018 around 08.30am, detectives from the Igbogene Police Division, who were on the trail of a 21-year-old notorious cult member, Godstime Atiburuzi, sighted him at Yenegwe community in Yenagoa.
“In a bid to escape, the suspect (Atiburuzi) shot at a policeman, an inspector, on his left hand. Consequently, the other detectives with the inspector overpowered and arrested him. They recovered a locally-made single-barrelled pistol from the suspect.
“Upon interrogation, the suspect confessed that he was a member of the Bobos cult. He mentioned Righteous Bonnafor, 20, and Godgift Ebi, 18, as his gang members.”
