Operatives of the Akwa Ibom State Police Command have arrested a University of Uyo graduate, Koabasi Marsodi, for allegedly operating an illegal arms fabrication facility in the state.
Marsodi, a graduate of Animal Science, was arrested on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at about 9:00 p.m. during a raid on suspected criminal hideouts in Uyo.
The arrest was disclosed in a statement issued on Monday in Uyo by the command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Timfon John.
According to the statement, the operation was part of the command’s ongoing Operation Zero Black Spots, a strategic initiative aimed at dismantling criminal hideouts, illegal arms production centres and drug networks across the state.
The police said the suspect was apprehended after operatives, acting on credible intelligence, stormed a suspected criminal facility located at Idem Street, off Itu Road, Uyo.
The command said intelligence reports had indicated that illicit chin-chin snacks laced with Indian hemp were being produced and distributed from the location.
However, upon raiding the premises, the operatives discovered that the facility was not only being used for producing narcotic-laced food items but also functioned as a clandestine arms and ammunition fabrication workshop.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the principal suspect, Koabasi Marsodi, a graduate of Animal Science from the University of Uyo, allegedly operates the illegal facility,” the statement said.
“He confessed to producing narcotic-laced chin-chin and engaging in the illegal fabrication and modification of firearms, including cutting long guns into shorter, concealable weapons.”
Items recovered from the facility include eight refilled cartridges, six empty expended cartridges, a bag of gunpowder, refilling pellets, a pack of striking pins, and a rifle butt.
Others are filing, cutting and drilling machines used for weapon fabrication, filing and cutting stones, assorted sets of saws, two machetes, substances suspected to be Indian hemp, and packets of chin-chin suspected to be laced with the substance.
Police also recovered two pairs of black military boots, belts and a jacket from the premises.
The command stated that discreet investigations were ongoing to apprehend other members of the alleged criminal network mentioned by the suspect during interrogation.
It also warned criminal elements in the state to desist from illegal activities or face the full weight of the law, noting that intelligence-driven operations would be intensified across identified black spots.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Baba Mohammed Azare, reaffirmed the command’s commitment to identifying, dismantling and prosecuting individuals involved in illegal arms fabrication, drug distribution and other criminal activities that threaten public safety.
