The police in Enugu have apprehended one Alhaji Samaila Garuba for allegedly supplying weapons to Fulani herdsmen.
Attacks by Fulani herdsmen have killed hundreds in Nigeria recently.
The state has been terrorised by killer herdsmen in the past with news of attack on humans and farmlands renting the air.
The Punch reports that Mr. Ebere Amaraizu who is the spokesperson of the Enugu State police command said a herdsman, Ibrahim Adamu, who was arrested with an AK-47 in the Udi area of Enugu on August 29, implicated Garuba as the one who supplied the weapon to him.
Since Adamu’s arrest, the police had been on the trail of Garuba, the police spokesman said.
He was however apprehended at a motor park on Tuesday, December 6.
Amaraizu said: “The Enugu State Command of the Nigeria Police Force through its operatives of the 9th Mile Division, today, 6th December, 2016, nabbed a suspected notorious gun runner who allegedly supplied AK-47 rifle to one herdsman, Ibrahim Adamu, earlier arrested by the Command.
“Suspect who gave his name as Alhaji Samaila Garuba, aka Bakassi, was earlier implicated by Ibrahim Adamu as the one that sold the AK-47 rifle to him.
“Garuba escaped when he got the information about the arrest of Ibrahim Adamu.
“His luck however ran out when intelligence information by the operatives paid off as he was trailed to a motor park situated at 9th Mile in Enugu early this morning, where he was nabbed after several efforts by him to escape.”
The spokesperson said that the suspect was providing useful information to the police.
Adamu who implicated Garuba hailed from Nasarawa State and was arrested with an AK-47 assault rifle and 24 rounds of live ammunition in a bush in Affa community.
He reared his cattle in communities within the Udi environs but resided at Hausa Quarters in the 9th Mile Area.