The Rivers State Police Command have bowed to pressure and released 275 of the Northern indigenes arrested under suspicion of being Boko Haram members.
The House of Representatives Committee, currently investigating the arrests was leaning towards information that the alleged Boko Haram members were simply traders as stipulated by the leader of the South South Arewa Consultative Forum, Alhaji Musa Saidu.
Deputy Commissioner State Criminal Investigation Department (DC/CID), Sam Ukaula informed journalists that 19 of those arrested were still being held for further interrogation.
The 275 that were released were screened by a joint team of Army, Police Immigration, customs and SSS before securing their freedom.
The Police stated that they made the arrests due to information provided to the Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu which stated that there were killer squads dispatched to Rivers to cause chaos as a result of the political crisis in the state.
Ukala said: “It would be recalled that on Friday night of January 24, 2014, the Commissioner of Police received an alarming information that members of Boko Haram were being massively transported to Rivers state particularly, Port Harcourt from certain parts of the country for the purpose of causing havoc on innocent citizens.”