Twenty-one persons have been paraded by the Edo State Police Command for offenses bordering on alleged armed robbery, cultism, attempted murder, unlawful possession of firearms, conspiracy, pipeline vandalism, house breaking, stealing, unlawful possession of illicit drugs and promotion of communal war.

The State Commissioner of Police, Funsho Adegboye, who paraded the suspects on Tuesday at the State Police Command, Benin City, said they were arrested in the last two weeks.

Adegboye said the suspects were arrested based on credible information by operatives of the command across the state.

The Police Commissioner, who described the arrest as a “harvest of criminals”, noted that the achievement was made possible by the cooperation of residents who gave credible and actionable information to operatives of the command.

While seeking for more cooperation from the people, he assured that the command would do everything possible to make the state more secure and habitable.

He, however, advised parents to warn their children, especially university students, to avoid being used by unscrupulous politicians.

“We want to implore members of the public to please warn their wards, especially university students.

“Like I advised the executive members of the Students’ Union of the University of Benin, the people that are making use of them, their own children are not around, so why would they want to get involved,” he said.

The suspects paraded by the command included Ovie Samuel, 46, Stanley Itota, 45, Felix Oputi, 46, Kadiri Hassan, 45 and Alex Akaeze, who were arrested for being in possession of 1,080 kilograms of ICE (hard drug), worth N20 million.