Awka
The Anambra State Police Command has intensified its crackdown on criminal hideouts and illicit activities across the state, arresting a suspected member of a separatist group and six others, while recovering an Army uniform, expended ammunition shells and suspected illicit drugs.
The operation, carried out by operatives of the Violent Crime Response Unit (VCRU), was part of the command’s sustained intelligence-led security operations against violent crimes, cultism and drug-related activities, according to a statement issued on Friday by the Command’s spokesperson, SP Ikenga Tochukwu.
Ikenga said VCRU operatives, acting on credible intelligence, arrested 65-year-old Ifeanyi Ogbuagbo at Umudioka, and a search of his residence led to the recovery of an Army uniform and expended ammunition shells concealed in a black polythene bag.
The police said preliminary findings indicated that Ogbuagbo was allegedly linked to a criminal gang agitating for self-government.
“He has been taken into custody for further investigation as detectives work to establish the circumstances surrounding the recovered items and his alleged activities,” he said.
The PPRO said in a separate operation carried out the same evening, police operatives raided a suspected criminal hideout in Ekwulobia, Aguata Local Government Area.
The operation, he revealed, resulted in the arrest of six suspects identified as Chisom Okafor, 25; Onyedika Moses, 36; Iruka Nwaonu, 30; Joseph Nwankwo, 36; Chukwujekwu Nwoso, 32; and Akanimo Orok, 40.
He said a sizeable quantity of dried weeds suspected to be Cannabis Sativa, alongside other substances suspected to be illicit drugs, was recovered during the raid.
“The Commissioner of Police, Anambra State Command, CP Nnanna Oji Ama, reaffirmed the command’s commitment to dismantling criminal networks and disrupting illicit drug activities across the state.
“He directed that raids on criminal hideouts, drug-selling points and other identified crime-prone locations be intensified and sustained.
“He has also assured residents that the command would continue to deploy intelligence-led operations, strategic patrols and coordinated raids to deny criminals safe havens across Anambra State,” Ikenga said in the statement.
