A gang of armed robbers who made a desperate attempt to rob a new generation bank along the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway were forcefully repelled by men of the dreaded Operation Kpochapu, the special anti-crime unit of the Anambra State Police Command who gunned down the leader of the suspected criminals in a gun battle.
The robbery gang had struck at about 2.am on Friday night when it imagined that the police would have lost vigilance but were surprised when the police made a dramatic swoop on them. Stunned by the sudden appearance of the police on the scene, the robbers opened fire to blast their way out of the scene but the men of Operation Kpochapu replied in self-defense, killing their leader who was later identified as Izu, a notorious armed robber whose men had been behind many raids on churches in Anambra State in the last few years.
The 5-man gang of heavily armed robbers had stormed the premises of the bank in the dead of the night, hoping that the peaceful atmosphere that Anambra State had enjoyed in the last six months of the Obiano administration would make the security operatives lose their level of alertness but was astonished by the forceful resistance it met from the police.
The fleeing robbers left behind in their wake, two AK Riffles, one Pump Action, one cutter and other light arms with which they had hoped to hack their way into the vault of the bank.
When the body of the fallen robbery suspect was taken to premises of the state police command, other robbery suspects in detention quickly identified him as the kingpin of the devilish gang that were notorious in the underworld for specializing in robbing churches.
Izu and his gang are known to have been the heartless criminals that invaded St Anthony of Padua Catholic Chuch, Nkpor in Idemili Local Government Area and the St John’s Catholic Church, Egbo-Nnewi in Nnewi North Local Government Area among other churches.
Governor Obiano has made it clear that the crackdown on violent criminals will be sustained to keep Anambra State free from crime and we in the Anambra State Police Command are determined to help him achieve that.”
Since the inception of the Governor Willie Obiano administration, Anambra State has enjoyed a long period of relief from criminals who had fled the state in droves following an intense crackdown from the Joint Special Task Force on Security otherwise known as the Operation Kpochapu.
