Matilda Omonaiye/
Three policemen were today dismissed by the authorities in Abia State, after they were outsmarted by criminals.
According to Abia State commissioner of police (CP) Leye Oyebade, the officers were dismissed for negligence of duty which facilitated the escape of five criminals from detention.
Oyebade, who said that he would not condone laxity, told reporters in a statement issued today how the suspects escaped from lawful custody with two police rifles.
He stated: “On September 2, 2017 at about 1:30pm, some suspects (Thank God for our policy of prompt arraignment of those involved in heinous crimes, which made it easy to classify that the offences for which these ones were standing interrogation for were not in that category), in the Anti-Kidnapping Section (D7) of State CIID Umuahia Cell, escaped from the detention facility. The suspects made away with two AK 47 Rifles kept outside the armoury for quick response to emergencies, to facilitate their escape.
“The inmates conceived the escape and nurtured it into fruition due to the negligence/absence from duty of the policemen scheduled for duty on that fateful day. However, three of the escapees, viz Kingsley Anyim, Chijioke Chukwu and Emeka Ukaegbu have been rearrested and one of the rifles recovered while all the officers involved in the act of negligence/absence from duty have all been taken through the Force approved disciplinary action process and dismissed from the Force, and will be prosecuted.
“Efforts to re-arrest the remaining escapees are being intensified. Meanwhile, it needs to be mentioned that Emeka Ukaegbu who was just picked up has confessed to where he kept the remaining AK47 rifle. I assure you that the rifle will be retrieved soonest, please.”
Oyebade also told reporters about latest breakthroughs by his men who smashed robbery gangs and arrested some cultists who allegedly shot one Nnadozie Ezinwa Onyema to death along Early Learning Road, by Umueze, in Aba on September 5.
He said that after receiving a distress call, the Divisional Crime Officer at Abayi Division, SP Gabriel Alobo, led a team of patrol men and detectives attached to the Division to the scene of incident where the victim was found in a pool of his own blood.
“One locally made pistol and two live cartridges were recovered around the scene,” Oyebade said. “Combing of the street and surrounding environment resulted in the arrest of one Godswill Joel Okeke and Godwin Dada, both males aged 26 years and 31 years respectively. Photograph of the deceased was taken and corpse taken to the morgue for preservation. Investigation is in progress.”
Newsmakers learnt that on August 31, at about 6:50pm, a surveillance team attached to Eastern Ngwa Division arrested one Chidiadi Okechi of Amauvuru village Ntighauzor shortly after robbing one Akpan Michael Sunday of his Qlink motorcycle at Ohanze/Ukpakiri Road in Obingwa LGA.
“Luck ran against the suspect as he was held by the victim while his cohort escaped with the snatched motorcycle and weapon used in the operation. Later on September 2, the fleeing suspect, one Chimaobi Joel of Amapu Ntighauzor, was arrested and the snatched Qlink motorcycle recovered. Effort is being intensified towards recovering the weapon used in the crime.”
Oyebade further revealed how three other gangs were smashed by his men.
In one of the cases, one Chibuike Metele of Azikiwe Street in Aba raised the alarm that he was pushed down from a Commuter bus, which he boarded at Bata junction Aba to Asa Road, in Aba, after robbing him of the sum of N150, 000 on September 5.
Oyebade said, “Sequel to the report, a team of patrolmen attached to Central Police Station, in Aba, went after the vehicle that was later identified with registration number XA 320 MBL which occupants abandoned on sighting the patrol team and took to their heels. However, one Kanayo Obichukwu was arrested, the sum of N17, 000 recovered from him, and he has confessed to the crime. Effort to track down other members of the gang is being intensified.”
Twenty minutes after midnight on September 5, Central Police Station in Aba received a distress call from two men named Benjamin Christopher and Chima Osuji, who reported that four men armed with guns and machete invaded their house, held everyone hostage and robbed them of their valuables.
Patrolmen who raced to the scene arrested two suspects identified as Ogbonna Ngwuta and Orji Eze. The suspects allegedly confessed to the crime and were helping the police to track other fleeing members of the gang.
A suspected burglar, Johnson Oko, and one alleged receiver of stolen items worth millions of naira, Peace Okeke, are being charged to court after they were arrested by detectives from Ndiegoro Division in Aba.
Policemen from the same division also arrested a suspected burglar, Uchenna John, found to have special interest in phones.
Acting on a tip off, detectives from Central Police Station, in Aba, stormed Nwachukwu area in Ogbor-hill and recovered a Sienna van marked BND 784 XA.
According to the police, the van was snatched from one Godson Bush of Umuegboro Obolo Ikwuano, Umuahia sometime in February, 2017, along Isiala Ngwa Road by four armed men.
The police told Newsmakers that two suspects escaped arrest during the operation.
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