By Joshua Chibuzo Andrew, Owerri
The Imo state police command has paraded 56 suspects involved in armed robbery, kidnapping, child-trafficking, cultism, murder among other crimes.
The state Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Barde, on Wednesday, during the parade at the command’s headquarters Owerri, the Imo state capital, said it was a pumper 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 into baby factory business in Umuguma in Owerri-west LGA of Imo, running a fake motherless babies home where they commit all sort of atrocities including selling, killing and burying the babies.
Chinyere Eke, 48, and 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 the whereabouts of her accomplice, Glory Okon.
But on interrogation, the suspects confessed to being members criminal syndicate that specialized in stealing of children from unsuspecting parents from Akwa-Ibom and other parts of the country and selling them to potential buyers who used 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 be 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 on Lagos state.
“On interrogation, he confessed that he lured his victim to an uncompleted building in Orlu Local Government Area of Imo state, killed him and thereafter harvested his vital body organs like his lungs, heart, and private part, abandoned his corpse at the scene and escaped to Lagos state to sell to his 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 Spokesman said the two suspects were transfered to Gender Based Violence Unit of the state Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department (SCIID), where they made a confessional statement, 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 terrified and shot some civilians during the weeklong sit-at-home, several armed robbery suspect terrorizing Owerri-West, Owerri-North, Ngor-Okpala, Mbaitoli, Njaba and some other LGAs in Imo state, 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 it to one Ali who lives at Ama-Hausa at the rate of one million, five hundred thousand naira (#1,500,000).
The suspects, the Spokesman said, had earlier kidnapped another female victim and collected a ransom of four million, five hundred thousand naira (#4, 500, 000).
Meanwhile, fifteen kiknapped victims, according to the police, were retrieved 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.
