No Warrant Needed to Search You - Police Spokesperson

The Delta State Police Command has clarified that its officers have the authority to conduct searches on individuals without obtaining a warrant, provided there is reasonable suspicion.

The command’s spokesperson, SP Bright Edafe, made this known in a post on X on Saturday, while announcing the arrest of a suspect found in possession of a firearm.

“Do the police have the right to search you randomly without a search warrant? The answer is yes; search you and not your houses or your phones. But to search you, your bag, pockets, is allowed.

“This chap was standing at a club around 5am looking suspicious, when operatives of RRS intercepted and searched him, and this gun was recovered. Listen to his reason for taking the gun to the club,” he wrote.

In an attached video, Edafe explained how operatives of the Rapid Response Squad, during a visibility patrol around DBS Road near Don and Master, became suspicious of a young man carrying a bag.

He said, “While operatives of the Rapid Response Squad of the Delta State Police Command were on their visibility patrol around DBS road, just by Don and Master, they saw this young man carrying a bag, he was sighted in a suspicious manner, he was intercepted and searched.

“When his bag was searched, this gun was found in his bag, this is the magazine and these are the ammunitions that were recovered from him.”

Edafe further revealed that the suspect, identified as 39-year-old Bassey Udoh from Akwa Ibom State, was not only found with a gun but was also involved in stealing generators.

“Bassey Udoh did not only have this in his possession. In the course of our investigation, we discovered that he usuaully scale through the fence of people’s houses while they’re sleeping and steals their generator.

“At times use the gate to come out and or also take it out through the fence. The time of their operation are usually between the hours of 4am and 5am,” Edafe added.

“I’ve not entered more than nine people’s houses. Some people buy the generator for N40,000 or N35,000,” Udoh said.

When questioned about the firearm, the suspect claimed he had no intention of using it for robbery.

“I was holding it, I did not use it to rob. It was for flexing at a club. I put it in my waist,” he said.