A motorcyclist identified as Garuba Sanni was caught with over 20 ammunition in Oghara, Ethiope West council area of Delta State, on Sunday, January 31, 2021.
It was gathered the incident happened close to Oghara Junction by the Cattle Market along the expressway.
Witnesses said the suspect had been involved in a bike accident, but as sympathisers rushed to the scene to offer help, they discovered bullets falling from him.
They said the suspect revealed that it was one Sariki in the cattle market that sent him to buy the bullets.
But for the quick intervention of the community leadership, an angry mob was said to have gathered and made to lynch the suspect.
Witnesses confirmed that the suspect was immediately handed over to the police that morning.
Narrating the incident, a community source said “he (the suspect) went to buy something, not knowing that it was bullets. On his way back he had an accident. As he fell, bullets fell from his body.
“People now asked where he got the bullets and he said it is one Alhaji in the Cattle Market in Oghara, that sent him. The community even handed him over to the police”.
The chairman of the community, Eghwere, also confirmed the report, disclosing that he was the one that called the police operatives to come to attend to the matter.
“I was in my house when one of my boys called me that they caught a man with bullets. It is like the guy was going to the cattle market. But before he entered the cattle market, by the road, the bike fell down.
“So the bullets fell, about 20 bullets. I was the one that called the police. I called the DCO to come and take the guy. They wanted to burn him. I said no, the police will go and investigate more, and nowhere he was taking the bullets to.
“Then he mentioned that one Sariki was the one that sent him. That was what he told me categorically. Others heard him, I was not the only one. When DCO came, we handed him over to DCO and I have not heard from him till now.
When told that the Police had initially denied that the incident happened, he asked “how?”.
But the Delta State Police Command which denied that such an incident occurred on Sunday confirmed the arrest of the suspect and two others.
Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Onome Onovwakpoyeya, said: “That one Garuba Sanni was caught in possession of ammunition. The Police swung into action and arrested him. He said somebody sent him. The person who sent him now called the name of a woman who sells it and they recovered about 77 ammunition”.
The police spokesperson further confirmed that the said “Seriki” who sent Sanni, as well as the woman who sold the bullets to him, have been arrested.
Source: The Nation
