Police arrest gun fabricator, three others, recover arms – Official

The police in Enugu State, South-east Nigeria, say they have arrested four crime suspects, including a firearm fabricator in the state.

The police spokesperson in Enugu State, Daniel Ndukwe, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.

He said the suspects were arrested in separate operations for offences of armed robbery, unlawful possession of firearms, cultism and drug trafficking.

How they were arrested

Mr Ndukwe, a superintendent of police, said police operatives from the Anti-Cultism Tactical Squad initially arrested the suspected firearms fabricator, Uchenna Nwudi and his cohort, Chiadikobi Eze, on Thursday.

He said confessions from the duo led to the arrest of another suspect, Emmanuel Eze, 25.

The police spokesperson said Mr Nwudi, 29, confessed to being a fabricator of firearms, while Chiadikobi had been involved in transformer vandalism.

“The suspects (also) confessed to being members of the Vikings Confraternity,” he said.

Vikings Confraternity is a cult group in Nigeria.

More arrest

Mr Ndukwe said, in a separate operation on Friday, operatives of the Crack Tactical Squad arrested another crime suspect, Ikechukwu Ugwele, 35, otherwise known as “Angle 90.”

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The police spokesperson said the operatives initially recovered from Mr Ugwele some quantities of weed suspected to be a premium variant of marijuana popularly known as “loud.”

Mr Ndukwe said that, upon his arrest, the operatives subsequently recovered a Beretta pistol from the suspect.

“He (Ugwele) confessed to several criminal activities and led operatives to the firearm’s recovery,” he said.

“All the suspects will be arraigned upon the conclusion of investigations.”

The Commissioner of Police in Enugu State, Bitrus Giwa, has reaffirmed the resolve of the state command to sustain the fight against unrepentant criminals, Mr Ndukwe said.

Mr Giwa urged residents of Enugu State to remain vigilant and cooperate with security operatives in fighting crime in the state.

Background

Like other states in the South-east, security has deteriorated in Enugu State with frequent attacks by armed persons.

The attacks often target security agencies, government officials and facilities.

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The outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has been blamed for the frequent attacks in the South-east, although the separatist group has denied involvement in the attacks.

IPOB is a group leading the agitation for an independent state of Biafra, which it wants to be carved out from the South-east and some parts of the South-south of Nigeria.

Apart from the attacks often linked to the separatist group, there have been pockets of kidnapping and armed robbery attacks in Enugu State in recent times.

Civil servants, business owners, politicians and even students have become targets of such kidnap attacks in the state lately.

In response, the Enugu State Government, in collaboration with the Enugu State Police Command, set up the Rapid Response Squad with AI-equipped vehicles.

However, kidnapping, attacks and other criminalities are yet to abate in the South-eastern state.