The Imo State Police Command’s Anti-Kidnapping Unit, alongside other Divisions and Formations, has apprehended 2,785 suspects for various crimes, including kidnapping, terrorism, murder, armed robbery, cultism, and child trafficking.

These operations also resulted in the rescue of 58 kidnapped victims and 42 stolen children, many of whom have been joyfully reunited with their families.

The operatives also recovered during the operations large cache of arms, ammunition, and explosives, including 2 GPMG, 14 AK-47s, 20 pump-action guns, 4 fabricated rocket launchers, 7 gas-cylinder explosives, locally made hand grenades, assorted rounds of live ammunition, cartridges, Biafran flags, and criminal charms, among others.

Among the key suspects arrested are Amechi Onyebuchi (38), Ozioma Ihedoro (39), Cyprian Ikpegbunam (50), and Uchenna Opara (30)—notorious members of the proscribed IPOB/ESN.

Speaking, the Commissioner of Police, Aboki Danjuma who confirmed this, said the suspects were responsible for multiple attacks on security formations and public infrastructure in Njaba LGA.

“Acting on credible intelligence, operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit, in collaboration with other tactical teams, raided an IPOB/ESN camp in Njaba, arrested the suspects, and recovered high-grade weapons and explosives,” he said.

During interrogation, they confessed to the kidnap and murder of one Emmanuel Oguzie, allegedly on the orders of a wanted ESN commander known as Asari.

In a separate but related case, two suspected kidnappers, Uche Nwachukwu (24) and Chinonso Ozirim (32), were arrested for abducting one Anayo Iwuoha in his compound at Akabo on June 20, 2025.

The syndicate held the victim at Chinonso Ozirim’s residence, collecting a N2.2 million ransom before a joint operation by the Anti-Kidnapping Unit and local vigilantes led to his rescue and the arrest of the suspects.

Also the command apprehended one Wisdom Chinazaekpere Ogbonna (36) of Orlu LGA, suspected to be a member of the Vikings Confraternity. Ogbonna had been on the run for two years following the brutal murder of a young man known as “Pikin,” who was mistakenly identified as a rival cultist. (The Nation, excluding headline)