The Police in Benue State said on Monday that it had uncovered an illegal local gun-manufacturing factory in Oju local government area of the state.
Commissioner of Police in the state, CP Fatai Owoseni, disclosed this while parading the suspects noting that he led his men to the site of the factory located at Amyuwogbu-Ibilla in Oju.
According to him, the illegal factory owner, Abi Odah, was arrested alongside his son, Kingsley Abi and one Thomas Ode, aka Tommy-Tommy.
CP Owoseni who also paraded the three suspects before journalists at Oju Divisional Police headquarters explained that his men were originally investigating a case of abduction and rape when they stumbled on the discovery.
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He said 19-year old Kingsley and his friend, Tommy, 17, were earlier apprehended following an allegation of abduction and rape of a 15 year-old girl.
The CP added that while Police operatives were tracing evidence of the crime to Kingsley’s home, they found prohibited items in his father’s workshop behind their house.
The commissioner noted that further search into the activities of Abi who was popularly known as a blacksmith revealed he was fabricating dangerous weapons, while disguising them as Dane guns for hunters.
“Some of the locally fabricated equipment use AK 47 prohibited ammunition”, Owoseni said.
The suspect, however, denied that all the tools belonged to him despite admitting that he manufactures Dane guns for hunters and has sold many of it to those who patronize him.
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