ENUGU— THE police said in Enugu weekend that 27 person from the northern part of Nigeria arrested with 19 dane guns and other dangerous weapons at Nsukka were hunters and had no link with the Islamic sect, Boko Haram.
A senior police officer said in a statement that following arrest of the men, the traditional ruler of Adani Community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State was contacted and he confirmed that the men, among them a 70-year-old man, were hunters who went on expedition.
The men who are now in police custody, were armed with axes, long knives, other harmful objects and bags containing foodstuff.
The traditional ruler was said to have informed the police that the last time the hunters visited the town on similar expedition was about three years ago, and that they usually settled at a camp in Adani.
"The security situation in the country now does not permit one to carry guns about from one state to another since that will create more tension," the police officer said.
The Nsukka Division of Enugu State Police Command had last Friday arrested 25 persons and two drivers and impounded their dane guns and other weapons concealed in bags of fertilizer.
The suspects were reportedly traveling from Zamfara State with a bus owned by Zamfara State government when they were intercepted by the police at Okpuje near the academic town of Nsukka.
The Divisional Police Officer at the Nsukka police station who drove away reporters , and prevented them from taking pictures of the suspects was, however, was quoted to have said the suspects were hunters who were traveling from Zamfara on a hunting expedition to settle in Enugu, and not actually members of the Islamic sect.
Vanguard gathered that when the news of their arrest got to Enugu, the state commissioner of police, Mr Danazumi Job Doma, sent a team of policemen to transfer the case and suspects to the state police headquarters at Enugu for further screening.
"The state government does not want to take chances because of the current situation in the country," a source also said yesterday, adding that Governor Sullivan Chime had directed that thorough investigations be conducted to ascertain the true mission of the men in the state.
The State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Ebere Amaraizu, who confirmed in a statement the movement of the suspects from Nsukka to the state CID, said they were "really intercepted on their way from Zamfara, they were coming to settle in Enugu ".
He added: "They had den guns for hunting and not terrorism adventures."
Amaraizu said that investigation was still on, noting that the men had licenses for the guns found in their possession.
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