The police in Edo State have arrested a vigilante, Bright Amadin (34), and two other men, Brown Amadin (29) and Stanley Omoregie (27) over an alleged plan to attack a rival cult group.
The command’s spokesperson, SP Chidi Nwabuzor, said the police received information that some members of Maphite Confraternity were planning to converge in a location in Benin City to carry out an attack on their rival secret cult members and to initiate new members in order to mark their anniversary.
He said the police moved in and arrested one of the secret cult members who led them to arrest two other members on Upper Sakponba Road in Okabere community, Benin.
While noting that effort was on to arrest other members of the gang, he said one pump action gun, three cartridges and clothes with Maphite insignia were recovered from those arrested.
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In an interview with journalists, one of the suspects, Amadin, said, “I am a Maphite member. I joined in 2018. The person that introduced me into the cult is dead. I stopped participating in their activities and then registered with a vigilante group to serve the community.
“We didn’t plan to attack or kill anybody. I was at a Maphite party to celebrate the Maphite day called 511 when my vigilante commander called that suspected robbers were in our community and that I should come. I left the party because the previous night we arrested some robbers who came to POS operators.
“I was driving down to meet my commander when the police arrested us and found a pump action gun, my vigilante identity card and Maphite regalia in the car. The gun belongs to the vigilantes. We were not going to attack anybody or group.”
