The Imo State Police Command has arrested a total of 179 criminal suspects in the last two months for offences ranging from terrorism, kidnapping and armed robbery to rape, cultism and fraud.

Commissioner of Police, Audu Garba Bosso, who disclosed this during a press briefing and parade of suspects at the Command Headquarters on Friday, in Owerri, said the arrests followed intelligence-led operations and painstaking investigations across the state.

Bosso said, “The Command, through painstaking investigations and intelligence-led operations, arrested a total of 179 criminal suspects for various offences including armed robbery, kidnapping, unlawful possession of firearms, rape, cultism, terrorism-related offences and murder.”

He revealed that exhibits recovered from suspects included two General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMG), six AK-47 rifles, ten pump-action guns, fabricated firearms, large quantities of live ammunition, suspected stolen vehicles, motorcycles, criminal charms and a human skull.

According to the police boss, one of the major breakthroughs was the arrest of a suspected notorious ESN commander, Uchenna Mmaduakolam, popularly known as “Ebube Virus,” who allegedly confessed involvement in attacks across Mbaise, Ngor-Okpala, Mbano, Owerri and Obowo council areas.

The Commissioner stated that six other suspected members of the proscribed IPOB/ESN network were also arrested during separate operations.

“Two GPMG rifles, 3,115 rounds of live ammunition, four AK-47 rifles, seven pump-action guns, one human skull, vehicles, motorcycles and suspected charms were recovered from their hideouts,” Bosso said.

In another operation carried out on May 22, police operatives in collaboration with the military and local vigilantes reportedly dismantled a kidnapping camp at Ndegwu Forest in Owerri West Local Government Area. (The Nation)

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