The police in Kogi say additional eight suspects have been arrested in
connection with the killings of 19 worshippers at a Deeper Life Bible
Church, Okene, on Aug. 6.
The state Commissioner of Police,
Mohammed Katsina, who disclosed this to newsmen in Lokoja on Tuesday,
however, said two of the suspects had died in custody.
Mr. Katsina did not provide details of who the dead suspects are and under what circumstances they died.
Key suspects, who could help resolve a crime, are often pronounced dead by the police.
The
commissioner however said the police arrested two of the eight new
suspects in a bus on Murtala Mohammad Bridge, Jamata, Lokoja, on their
way to the state from one of the neighbouring states.
Mr. Katsina
said that the arrested persons were suspected to be among the attackers
of the church, who were re-grouping after the attack.
The police
commissioner also said that the attackers hatched their plot to attack
the church and Okene Local Government Secretariat at their hideout in
the Eyika Adagu area of the local government.
"Three persons each
were detailed to attack the church and the soldier respectively; the
pastor was the target of the attack but because of confusion as they
entered the church, they were shooting sporadically.''
He said
that the gang also confessed that they had planned to launch another
attack on Aug. 19, to disrupt the services and the Eid-el-Fitri
celebration before the arrest of its leader.
The police in the
state had announced on Aug. 13 that 16 suspects had been arrested in
connection with the Okene church killings.
But Mr. Katsina did not say what has become of the 16 initial suspects and where they are being held.
The
commissioner also said that two bomb-manufacturing factories were
discovered on Tuesday in Abu Limit Estate and Eyika Adagu in Okene and
Okehi Local Government Areas respectively.
Conducting journalists
round the factories, Mr. Katsina said they were discovered following
information provided by the arrested leader of the 21-man gang who
masterminded the church attack.
More: http://channelkoos.com/index.php/news/2276-suspects-in-okene-church-killings-die-in-police-custody
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