Akwa Ibom State Police Command has arrested a total of 126 suspects, who allegedly engaged in various crimes, such as kidnapping, armed robbery, cultism, vandalism, murder and sexual assault in the first quarter of 2023.
The state’s Commissioner of Police, Olatoye Durosinmi, who paraded some of the suspects at the Command headquarters in Ikot Akpanabia, Uyo, explained that the synergy between the police and other sister agencies helped the police to record the feat.
Durosinmi also paraded four suspects who kidnapped a retired permanent secretary in the state, Mr. Ignatius Brown, of Abak Local Council, and demanded N80 million for ransom, having discovered his bank record through his handset.
The CP, who advised people not to go about with phones that have an alert of their huge sum, noted that it was the account balance of their victim that made them peg the ransom to that amount.
He said though the family out of desperation paid the suspects some money against advice, police operatives were able to trace the kidnapper’s hideout and rescued the victim.
According to him, some suspects were arrested, while others were at large with one locally made pistol, three wooden guns recovered.
Meanwhile, one of the suspects, Sunday Ekwere, confessed to having received N850,000.00 as proceeds from the ransom they collected.
The Commissioner also paraded three suspects for vandalising and stealing six mast backup batteries belonging to MTN and Airtel Communications companies, valued at N1.6 million each.
The suspects: Chinwe Precious Nwabara ‘m’, Bright Godswill ‘m’, and Chinedu Divine Nweke ‘m’, who came from Portharcourt in connivance with an Airtel staff, Tochi, now at large, disguised as engineers working on the mast to carry out the crime.
The Commissioner explained that the Eagle Response Squad of the Command tracked the batteries to AKTC Motor Park where the suspects were trying to waybill it to Port Harcourt.
He added that the operatives apprehended the suspects and recovered the exhibits.
The Commissioner, who said the suspects would be charged to court after investigations, urged members of the public to be security conscious and avail the police with useful information that would aid them serve the public better.
