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Inspector arrested for gunrunning in Calabar

Cross River State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Sikiru Akande, yesterday paraded a police inspector serving in Obubra, Nathaniel Manasseh, for alleged gunrunning. Manasseh, who was paraded alongside 24 other suspected criminals at the State Police Command Headquarters, Diamond hill, Calabar, was said to have been assisting criminals with guns and selling arms to them. Until his arrest, the inspector was in charge of armoury at the Divisional Police Station in Obubra, Central, Cross River State. The Commissioner, Akande, said Manasseh was arrested after a painstaking investigation and intelligence gathering which traced his activities to as far as Owerri, Imo State.

But Manasseh denied selling guns. The inspector said he was only framed up by two other suspected criminals, Nnanke Onen Arikpo and Chidi Ebere Igwe, who were allegedly arrested with him. He said: “I was charmed by these people (pointing at Arikpo and Igwe) because I was going to Owerri for an investigation. They were my suspects.

“I have been handling the armoury since when I was a constable till now and I have never been involved in gunrunning. I was charmed by the two suspects.” But Arikpo and Igwe insisted that Manasseh was always there to supply them guns. They explained that the two guns recovered from them were sold to them by the inspector. Two police rifles said to have been kept in Manasseh’s custody reportedly disappeared, according to the Commissioner of Police, Akande, and were later recovered from the two suspects- Arikpo and Igwe. Meanwhile, the police chief promised to make the state uncomfortable for criminals to operate. Akande said his duty was to ensure that Cross River State remained a peaceful state.

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