The Public Relations Officer of the Delta State Police Command, SP Bright Edafe, has said that police officers have the legal right to search people’s pockets and bags without first obtaining a warrant.

Edafe, however, said that police officers cannot search people’s houses and mobile phones without a warrant.

Edafe made this known in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday while announcing the arrest of a suspected thief who was 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,” he stated.

According to him, the arrest was made after operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) on visibility patrol intercepted a man loitering near a club in Asaba in the early hours of the morning.

“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,” Edafe wrote.

In a video that accompanied the post, Edafe explained that officers on routine patrol along DBS Road, near Don and Master, spotted the suspect carrying a bag in a suspicious manner.

“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,” he said.

Further investigations revealed that the suspect, identified as 39-year-old Bassey Udoh from Akwa Ibom State, was also involved in stealing generators from residential homes.

“Bassey Udoh did not only have this in his possession. In the course of our investigation, we discovered that he usually 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.

The suspect, who admitted he had been living in Delta State for three years, confessed that he had broken into about nine houses in the past two months to steal generators.

“I have 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, Udoh denied using it for robbery. Instead, he claimed it was meant for display at social gatherings.

“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.

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 5 AM looking suspicious, when operatives of… pic.twitter.com/2SmBclLiIZ

— SP. Bright Edafe (@Brightgoldenboy) August 23, 2025

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