With the latest arrest, the number of suspects so far apprehended is now 23.
Meanwhile, Gbong Gwom Jos, His Majesty Jacob Gyang Buba, has called on the people of Plateau State to “remain calm, law-abiding, security-conscious and report any unusual movement to the relevant security agencies.”
The spokesperson for OPSH, Maj. Umar Adams, had, while parading 17 suspects in connection with the killings, told journalists that three were apprehended at Gashish District, Barkin Ladi LGA, while 14 others were nabbed for alleged “civil unrest”, after they stopped passers-by along the highways to avenge the killings of their kinsmen.
The Commander of OPSH, Maj. Gen. Anthony Atolagbe, told newsmen on Sunday night that the six suspects arrested would be transferred to Abuja.
He said, “We made more arrests and we are parading them tomorrow (today). We have close to four today (Sunday) and two the other day – that’s like six. As we are parading them, we are moving them straight to Abuja because we don’t even have the capacity to keep them.
“If we keep them here in Jos, we usually encounter the problem of people saying they want to see their relatives and take their bail. Moreover, the apparatus and administration of justice in Plateau State is not very strong to convict these people. That is why you see them committing all these crimes. All the ones we have sent to Abuja, all of them are presently being prosecuted.
“The prosecution in Plateau State is too weak; the prosecution by the Federal Government is stronger and has a higher standard. You can’t just bail somebody who committed this type of crimes. But here in Plateau State, people will start asking for bail.”
The Gbong Gwom Jos, in a statement by his spokesperson, Alex Rwang-Pam, commiserated with the families of the victims saying, “It seems the situation has overwhelmed those charged with security.”
The attacks, according to him, “were carried out in our villages by people who do not, in any way and by evidence of history, have villages or ancestral lands to which they claim were attacked by our people.”
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