Rivers State Police Command officers arrested 55 people suspected of being members of cult groups operating in the Diobu area of Port Harcourt, the state capital.
The arrests followed raids on suspected cultist hideouts in Diobu, a densely populated area of Port Harcourt, in the early hours of Monday and Tuesday.
The raids were carried out by a combined team of personnel from the Anti-Cultism Unit, Octopus Strike Force, Mile 1 Police Division, and Azikiwe Police Division, according to a source in the area who requested anonymity.
The raids and arrests occurred only five days after warring cult groups in Diobu reportedly agreed to a peace deal and declared a ceasefire in a cult war that claimed some lives.
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Remember that 15 people were killed during a week-long clash between two factions of a cult group in the Diobu area of the state capital.
Grace Iringe-Koko, the state’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), confirmed the raids and arrests to journalists in Port Harcourt.
Iringe-Koko, who did not reveal the number of people arrested during the raids, said the raids were in response to recent cult clashes in the area.
She stated that the arrested suspects were being profiled and that anyone found guilty would be arraigned in court at the conclusion of the investigation.