The Public Relations Officer (PRO), the Delta State Police command, SP Bright EDAFE, has said that police officers have the authority to search the pockets and bags of people without a court order if there are reasonable suspicions.
Edafe revealed this in a publication on X on Saturday while announced the arrest of an alleged thief found in possession of a firearm.
“Does the police have the right to look at it randomly without a search warrant? The answer is yes; the search for you and not your houses or your phones. But to look for it, your bag, pockets, it is allowed.
“This Chap was stopped in a club around 5 in the morning, when RRS agents intercepted and registered, and this weapon was recovered. He listened to his reason to take the weapon to the club,” he wrote.
In a video that accompanied the publication, EDAFE explained how the agents of the fast response team in the visibility patrol around DBS Road, near Don and Master, intercepted a young man who carried a bag suspiciously.
He said: “While the rapid response team agents of the Delta State Police command were in their visibility patrol around DBS Road, just by Don and Master, they saw this young man carrying a bag, he was suspectedly sighted, he was intercepted and wanted.
“When his bag was recorded, this weapon was found in his bag, this is the magazine and these are the ammunition that recovered from it.”
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Edafe also revealed that the suspect, identified as Bassey UDOH, 39 years of Akwa Ibom, was linked to the theft of generators in the state.
“Bassey UDOH not only had this in his possession. In the course of our research, we discovered that he climbs users through the people’s fence while they sleep and steal his generator.
“Sometimes the door use to leave I also get it through the fence. The time of its operation is usually between 4 am and 5 am,” he added.
UDOH, who admitted that he had been in the state of Delta for three years, confessed that he had stolen around nine houses to steal generators since the “business” began two months ago.
“I have not entered more than nine houses of people. Some people buy the generator for N40,000 or N35,000,” he said.
In the firearm, the suspect said he was not using it by robbery, but presumed in a nightclub.
“I was holding it, I didn’t use it to steal. It was to flex in a club. I put it on my waist,” he said.
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