July 12, (THEWILL) – The police command in Imo State has paraded 56 suspects involved in armed robbery, kidnapping, child trafficking, cultism, murder, amongst others.
The state Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Barde, on Tuesday, during the parade at the command’s headquarters, Owerri, Imo state capital, said it was a bumper harvest of criminals and other syndicates, reiterating the command’s readiness to harvest more.
Barde, who spoke through the command’s Spokesman, Henry Okoye, said two out of the 56 suspects, were females, who had been involved in child-trafficking business.
The female child traffickers, whose names were given as Eke Chinyere and Glory Okon, were said to be in the baby factory business in Umuguma, Owerri-west LGA, running fake motherless baby homes, where they commit all sorts of atrocities including selling, killing and burying the babies.
Chinyere Eke, 48, a native of Umuhie in Ngor-Okpala LGA of Imo state, according to the Commissioner, was first arrested and tipped the operatives of the command on the whereabouts of her accomplice, Glory Okon.
But on interrogation, the suspects confessed to being members of a criminal syndicate that specialised in stealing children from unsuspecting parents from Akwa-Ibom and other parts of the country and selling them to potential buyers, who use the children for either child labour or ritual purposes.
Similarly, a 29-year-old Emeka Egbuaba, who brutally murdered and harvested the vital parts of one Sixtus Ezebudo, from Ihite-Owerri in Orlu LGA of Imo, was arrested and paraded.
The suspect confessed to being an organ harvester and trafficker.
According to the police Spokesman, “The suspect was arrested by the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the command from his hideout in Lagos state.
“On interrogation, he confessed that he lured his victim to an uncompleted building in Orlu Local Government Area of Imo state, killed and thereafter harvested his vital body organs, like his lungs, heart, and private parts, abandoned his corpse at the scene and escaped to Lagos state to sell to ritual buyers.
“We intend to carry out a DNA test on the recovered corpse, as the suspect will soon be charged to court upon completion of a diligent investigation.”
Nnanna Ugorji, aged 20, and Chiaka Anah, aged 53, both of Umuelem in Ihiagwa Owerri-west LGA of Imo, were also paraded for defiling a minor, Chizaram Anoma, aged 10.
The Police Spokesman, Okoye, said the two suspects were transferred to the Gender-Based Violence Unit of the state Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department (SCIID), where they made confessional statements, revealing that on different occasions, they had tricked the teenager to a hidden location and unlawfully had carnal knowledge of her.
The suspects, he said, would be arraigned in court this week.
Other paraded suspects were over 25 enforcers of sit-at-home, said to be members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra and its armed affiliate, Eastern Security Network (ESN), who shot at terrified civilians during the weeklong sit-at-home.
Several armed robbery suspects terrorising Owerri-West, Owerri-North, Ngor-Okpala, Mbaitoli, Njaba and some other LGAs in Imo state, were also paraded, the list includes, kidnapping cases, where one Daniel Ndubuisi Ohaeri of Emeke Agbali in Owerri-North LGA, was reportedly kidnapped by a 20-year-old Chidera Nwachukwu and 25-year-old Godwin Felix.
The victim was said to have been robbed of his Lexus 300 SUV Jeep and sold to one Ali, who lives in Ama-Hausa, at the rate of one million, five hundred thousand naira (N1,500,000).
The suspects, the Spokesman said, had earlier kidnapped another female victim and collected a ransom of four million, five hundred thousand naira (N4,500,000).
Meanwhile, fifteen kidnapped victims, according to the police, were rescued from the suspects including five children between the ages of 4 to 7 years, while a lifeless body, identified as Remigius Njoku, was discovered in the process.
Other recovered items included five vehicles, six motorcycles and armoured cable wires.
Ammunition recovered were 32 Assault riffles made up of Two (2) AK47 rifles, Fifteen (15) Pump Action Guns, Two (2) cut-to-size locally made guns, Eleven (11) locally made pistols and Two (2) Double Barrel Guns were recovered from these suspects. Also recovered from the suspects include One Hundred (100) rounds of live cartridges, Seventy (70) rounds of AK47 ammunition.
The command reaffirmed its commitment to reducing crimes of various types to the barest minimum in the state and warned criminals to turn new leaves or be caught by the gallant police officers of the Imo state command.
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