The Delta State Police Command has arrested five suspected cult members in connection with the killing of a young man who was attacked with a machete in Issele-Azagba, Aniocha North Local Government Area of the state.
The arrests followed the circulation of a viral video showing the victim being brutally attacked and hacked to death in an incident suspected to be cult-related on October 27, 2026.
The police also recovered a pump-action gun, a dagger and suspected illicit drugs during the operations.
The Command's Police Public Relations Officer, SP Bright Edafe, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, saying the Commissioner of Police, CP Samuel Erale, had ordered operatives of the Special Anti-Kidnapping Unit in Asaba to track down those responsible after the video emerged.
Edafe said the directive led to intelligence-driven operations during which four suspected members of the Black Axe confraternity were arrested on November 3 at a suspected criminal hideout along Ugbolu-Amachai Road.
The suspects were identified as Ifechukwudi Okafor, 26; Michael Okoro, 26; Freedom Iloh, 28; and Chinasa Akwuo, 29.
Items recovered from the hideout included a pump-action firearm, a dagger and substances suspected to be illicit drugs.
The police spokesman added that further investigations resulted in the arrest of another suspect, 27-year-old Infione Solomon Omefe, on November 4.
According to him, Omefe allegedly confessed to participating in the killing captured in the viral footage, while investigations were ongoing to identify and arrest other persons linked to the incident.
Reacting to the development, the Commissioner of Police condemned the killing and assured residents that everyone found culpable would face the full weight of the law.
E rale also warned against cultism and other violent criminal activities, assuring that the Command would sustain its crackdown on criminal groups across the state.
He urged members of the public to provide useful information to security agencies, assuring that the identities of informants would be protected.
Meanwhile, the Obi of Issele-Azagba, Christopher Ugbomah II, said residents remained apprehensive despite the arrests, expressing concern that other suspects allegedly involved in the killing were still at large.
The monarch called on the police to intensify efforts to apprehend all those connected to the crime, while appealing to residents to remain calm and cooperate with security agencies.
