No fewer than 18 suspected criminals in Etim Ekpo local government area of Akwa Ibom state have been killed by military Joint Task Force (JTF) during a raid of their hide-out in the area.
The suspected cultists were said to have engaged themselves in kignapping, rape, killing of people in the area.
DSP Odiko Ogbeche Macdon, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Akwa Ibom State Police Command, who stated this Tuesday said JTF arrested more than 20 suspects with dangerous weapons.
Macdon explained that this was part of the efforts of the security operatives in the state to contain crimes in the state.
Sources told Straightnews that JTF arrested a lady in a village in Etim Ekpo said to be a girlfriend and a cook to the suspected criminal elements in their hide-out.
It was alleged that when the soldiers apprehended and threatened to dela with her if she failed to call her boyfriend- kidnap suspect- who dashed in and was promptly arrested by the soldiers.
The suspect, according to the source, was said to have led the security operatives to their hideout in a forest in Ikpe community in Etim Ekpo local government area, where JTF members rounded up several others.
In trying to escape during the raid, the soldiers killed about 18 and arrested others.
In another development, the JTF has arrested two suspects with firearms in Ukanafun local government.area.
