Enugu Police Arrest 123 Suspects In One Month

The Enugu State Police Command said it arrested 123 suspected kidnappers, armed robbers, and other criminals it arrested from July to August this year.

The state commissioner of police, Kanayo Uzuegbu, while paraded the suspects at the state command headquarters on Thursday, said several incriminating exhibits were recovered during the operations.

He added that many of the suspects have been arraigned in court and remanded in the Nigerian Correctional Custodial Centres.

The CP also disclosed that 19 abducted victims were rescued during the period under review, adding that his officers and men also recovered 15 AK-47s and assault rifles and 25 Pump action guns.

He further added 35 other ammunition and 710 live ammunition of different calibres, with 187 live cartridges recovered as well as 17 vehicles and 11 tricycles recovered within the period.

The CP also used the opportunity to dispel the rumoured kidnapping of some persons around the Enugu State College of Health Technology, Oji-River.

He said: “Rather, the four persons, three of whom were not students of the school, allegedly kidnapped around the College on August 14, 2024, have all been rescued and reunited with their families.

“Meanwhile, be informed that the suspects involved have been arrested and are undergoing interrogation.

“Also, the peddler of the unwarranted panic news on the incident has been traced and he has been apologizing for the mischievous act.

“Similarly, the sinister plans of the IPOB/ESN secessionist renegades to attack the police operatives and cause collateral damage at 4-Corner, along the Enugu/Port-Harcourt Expressway, on August 18, 2024, were squarely thwarted by the operatives.

“The militants, dressed in security forces uniforms and operating in a snatched Lexus 350 Jeep, suddenly opened fire on the patrol team on approaching the operatives.

“However, the operatives returned fire-for-fire and immobilized the Lexus Jeep, forcing the hoodlums to snatch a Toyota Camry car and escape the scene with varying degrees of gunshot wounds.

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“Unfortunately, a Special Constabulary performing traffic control duty on the said road undergoing reconstruction, paid the supreme price with his life, while the team’s patrol vehicle was hit by bullets and engulfed in flames.

“The two vehicles the militants snatched from their owners, in their usual way of hiding under the guise of secessionist agitations to inflict social, economic, and psychological pains on fellow citizens, have been recovered. Consequently, a joint team of security operatives are on their trail.”

Uzuegbu commended the Enugu State Government, under the leadership of His Excellency, Dr. Peter Mbah, “for taking the bold and pragmatic steps of demolishing houses and facilities used in harbouring and perpetrating acts of abduction and kidnapping in the State.

“Therefore, I call on citizens of Enugu State, particularly landlords, hoteliers, and owners of uncompleted buildings to be mindful of who they accommodate in such structures.

“This is to ensure that they do not harbour criminals whose activities could bring about the demolition of their building facilities.”