Not fewer than 16 persons have been killed by gunmen suspected to be herdsmen, in Udei and Yelwata communities of Guma local government area of Benue state.
Sources from the areas, who didn’t want to be named, said some traders had
gone to the community to collect their wares, wood, when the gunmen attacked and killed them.
They also said five dead bodies have been recovered while 11 other persons were still missing as at the time of writing this report.
Confirming the incident, chairman of Guma LGA, Mr. Caleb Abah, said the attack took place around 7p.m on Monday
“I heard of the incident. Those killed are timber dealers who went yesterday, Monday, in the evening to collect the timber they had cut from the forest in Mbagwen.
“So, it was when they were coming out of the forest that they met the attackers who attacked and killed them.
Mr. Abah who said he reported the matter to the police said “They were 16 in number. So far, five corpses have been recovered out of the 16 persons.”
Earlier, when contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Benue state command, SP Catherine Anene, said she was yet to get the details on the incident.
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Meanwhile, the police in the state said they have arrested suspected fraudsters and armed robbers and also recovered of firearm.
The PPRO, SP Catherine Anene in a statement, explained that, “On 5/4/2022 at about 1030hrs, the Commissioner of Police, Benue State Command, CP. Wale Abbas received a report that on the same date about 0300hrs, armed robbers broke into a house at New GRA in Makurdi and made away with ATM cards, phones and other belongings. The robbers transferred N300,000 from the victim’s accounts using the stolen ATM cards.
“The CP deployed a team of detectives to trail and arrest the suspects but the suspects who knew that they were being trailed took to their heels until 15/6/2022 when two of the suspects; Sapele Great and Hakem Joseph Adi of different addresses were arrested in Makurdi.”
Following their arrest, one locally made pistol loaded with nine rounds of 6mm live ammunition, eight phones suspected to be stolen, one electronic shocking device, 18 SIM cards of different networks, one United Bank for Africa, UBA, cheque book belonging to Agasha Philemon and other electronic devices suspected to be used to internet fraud, were recovered from them.
The statement said the suspects confessed to be cultists, armed robbers and fraudsters while investigation is ongoing to arrest other suspects involved.
