Police arrest 200 suspected criminals, recover ammunition in Anambra

The Police in Anambra State have arrested 200 suspected criminals and made some recoveries in the last two months.

The Commissioner of Police in Anambra, Nnaghe Itam, disclosed this during his maiden media briefing in Awka on Friday.

Mr Itam stated that police operatives recovered about 1,644 pieces of ammunition in the state within the period.

Among those arrested were suspected kidnappers, cultists, car snatchers and petty thieves.

“I am putting in place operational strategies to ensure that within 10 minutes after a crime is reported, a response team will storm the scene,” he said.

“Governor Chukwuma Soludo has been supportive; sister security agencies, including the State Security Service and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, have also supported us.

“The local vigilante groups have also been supportive. We are all working together,” he said.

The police commissioner urged Anambra residents to offer useful information to security agencies to aid the fight against crime. He added that he had been engaging with the state’s traditional rulers, religious bodies, community leaders, and others.

“I have asked traditional rulers to redefine any of their cultural practices that encroach on fundamental human rights to avoid social clashes,” he said.

He warned that land grabbing, voodoo practices, cultism, violence or abuse of other people’s freedom would not be allowed in the state.

He advised people threatening the state’s peace to rethink because the police would resist their illegitimate actions.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that among those paraded was 60-year-old Dominic Iyetu, from Okija in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra, along with his son, Chinedu, 25.

The duo are accused of stealing a Lexus 300 Jeep the father claimed was a gift from his son, Chinedu.

Mr Iyetu told NAN that he and his son were bicycle repairers and sellers.

He further said that he thought the son made money from his other business outside the bicycle business.

“When he gifted me the jeep, I thought he probably had made the money from other sources like Bet9ja (a betting shop),” he said.