A nine-person arms manufacturing syndicate operating out of Amahundu, Nanev, Kwande Local Government Area, has been arrested by Benue State Police Command agents.
A Cameroonian national was one of the suspects taken into custody from the syndicate's operations base.
The gang was reportedly arrested as a result of intelligence gathered during the state's recent crackdown on syndicates that manufacture weapons, according to Commissioner of Police Emmanuel Adesina, who paraded the suspects on Wednesday at the Command headquarters in Makurdi.
"The command has increased intelligence gathering on arms manufacturers on the strength of that," he stated. As a result, on March 4, 2024, at around 4:30 a.m., members of the Joint Task Force (JTF) Operation Zenda team stormed a hideout for arms manufacture in Amahundu, Nanev, Kwande LGA, and took the suspects into custody.
"24-year-old Terer Terfa, aka "Gadafi, 36-year-old Aondonaugen Tse-aa, 27-year-old Torkuma Iorlaha is 25-year-old, Hangeior Atim," according to the Police Commissioner's list of the caught suspects.
The others are Adinga Ramseydihno, 33, from the Republic of Cameroon, 35-year-old Tyav Terwase, 50-year-old Gundu Gbagbogum, 20-year-old Terwase Shimashan, and 18-year-old Terese Terver, identity "Gbatiir," all of various addresses in Kwande LGA.
The suspects acknowledged their involvement in the manufacturing, export, and local sales of weapons. Eight Barretta pistols that are still in the fabrication stage, one AK47 rifle that has been assembled, ten AK47 live rounds, five Barretta pistol rounds, four welding gas cylinders and further fabrication supplies are among the exhibits that were retrieved from them.
He said that an investigation was being conducted to find out where the gang got its raw materials and where else they might have hid out.
