The Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, has directed Police Commissioners in Benue, Cross River and Akwa Ibom states to arrest and prosecute any youth involved in cultism.
Arase, who gave the order on Tuesday in a statement by the force spokesman, Mr Emmanuel Ojukwu, expressed concern about cult group activities in the affected states.
The statement also directed all Divisional Police Officers in the three states to work with the commissioners of police to forestall the increasing menace of cultists.
Similarly, it charged commissioners of police and DPOs in other states to be on the lookout for cultists with a view to bring them to book.
The statement called on parents and guardians to warn their ward and children against social menace that could jeopardise their future.
It urged the youth to engage themselves in productive ventures, saying that no nation could develop if its youths, who were future leaders engaged in cultism and other criminal activities. (NAN)