The Imo Police Command has said it arrested at least 200 suspects in the past three years, in connection with the various killings and other heinous crimes in the state.
The command’s Public Relations Officer2 (PPRO), ASP Henry Okoye, disclosed this in a statement in Owerri on Sunday. Okoye further stated that the command recovered more than 50 assault rifles allegedly “from the hands of the criminal elements” during the period.
“Most of the suspects have been arraigned and remanded in the Custodial Center, Owerri, while others are still undergoing trial,” he added.
He was however silent on the number of casualties from the countless violent attacks and counter-attacks between the state and non-state actors. The PPRO stated that in the wake of the rising insecurity, the command rolled out security strategies aimed at crippling the activities of criminally minded elements, hence was able to achieve the feat.
He stated: “A large number of escapees during the jail break of the Owerri Custodial Center were re-arrested and returned to the center.
“The command has dominated the entire security space, especially the crucial areas and routes were we have identified, through painstaking intelligence gathering, that hoodlums pass through to unleash any given attack,” Okoye added.
He, therefore, allayed the fear among the residents that the police and other security agencies had been overwhelmed by the security situation in the state. According to him, the command is fully prepared to provide maximum safety and security for lives and property of all and sundry in the state.
“The officers and men of Imo command are highly motivated to achieving that and are ready to give their all in the discharge of the Constitutional mandate of the Force. “The command has deployed enhanced security measures to put an end to the activities of miscreants, who unleash mayhem on the good people of the state.
“The Commissioner of Police (CP), Mohammed Barde, has mandated Area Commanders, Divisional Police Officers and Tactical Team Commanders to embark on an intelligence-driven and community policing-oriented strategy in the fight against criminality in the state,” Okoye added.
He stated that Barde also charged the personnel to continuously gather actionable intelligence, identify and raid enclaves of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra and its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network.
