No fewer than 15 suspected hoodlums were arrested by the Ebubeagu security outfit for allegedly terrorising citizens of Abakaliki metropolis and their involvement in various crimes in the state, on Saturday.

It was gathered that the suspects were arrested during a stop and search operation carried out by the Ebubeagu operatives on various streets within the Abakaliki metropolis.

Speaking to journalists in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital, the Special Assistant to the Governor on Internal Security, Eze Ikechukwu Patrick, said the suspects were arrested with a locally-made gun and were handed over to the Commissioner of Police, CP Aliyu Garba, for further investigation and action.

According to him, “Those boys are the major suspects that are terrorizing the state and we apprehended them yesterday night with a locally made rifle.

READ ALSO Lawan, Kalu bag chieftaincy titles in Argungu

“You can see, we handed them over to the police for further investigation. They are fifteen in number but we still have others left, we took to the scene of the crime for investigation, we will equally hand them over to the police.

“We arrested some of them at Gariki the ‘burying ground’, while other ones are arrested at the centenary city. Noon of them are students. Most of them are cultists.

“We arrested some of them during our stop and search operations. There is peace already in Ebonyi since the arrest of the suspects.

“They are the major Taliban’s that are disturbing the people of the state and we have peacefully handed them over to the police.”

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mrs Loveth Odah, said she was yet to be briefed on the development.

“I am not aware that Ebubeagu handed over suspects. They may have arrested and handed over to the police, but I’m not aware as the spokesperson of the police command,” she said.