POLICE authorities are still searching for six officers who went missing in Delta State, according to Force spokesman Muyiwa Adejobi.
Six police officers were gruesomely murdered in Ohoro Forest, Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State and the same number declared missing after they were ambushed during a rescue mission of their colleagues.
Weeks after the incident, Adejobi said security operatives are still in the hunt for the missing officers.
“Up till now, according to the provisions of the law, we are still searching for the six persons. Nobody can declare them dead. Hopefully, we are going to get them,” he said on Monday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today monitored by News Point Nigeria.
According to him, it took the police some time to declare the slain officers dead owing to some provisions of the law which requires that people are only pronounced dead when their corpses are recovered.
“We did not come out to say it on time because we were actually waiting to get the corpses – we were able to recover six,” he said.
Although some persons were arrested in connection with the officers’ murder, the Force spokesman said the number has increased since then.
“We have been able to arrest nine of them. We first arrested five of them. Last week, we made additional arrest of three and I think on Sunday, we arrested another one,” the police spokesman added.
“These are suspects directly involved in the killing, not just any Tom, Dick and Harry or passersby.”
Their death came almost at the same time 17 military personnel were murdered in the oil-rich Delta State.
The soldiers were killed while on a peace mission in Okuama community of Ughelli South Local Government Area (LGA) in an incident that caused nationwide outrage and condemnation.
During their burial last week, military authorities vowed to hunt down the masterminds of the attack but insisted the development won’t deter them from stamping out criminals from the country.
President Bola Tinubu equally conferred post-humous national awards on the slain soldiers and awarded scholarships to their children.