The Enugu State police command on Wednesday paraded a dismissed soldier and nine others for various criminal activities in the state.
Abdurahman Mohammed, the state’s Commissioner of Police, said the suspects were arrested for murder, conspiracy, armed robbery, cultism and other offences within July.
The arrest is coming barely one week after the police arrested some serving and dismissed soldiers over an attack on a bullion van that led to the death of four cops in Ebonyi State.
Addressing journalists in Enugu, Mohammed said the dismissed soldier, whose name was given as Ifesinachi Nwankwo, aged 24, joined the Nigerian Army in 2017 and served in Damboa, Maiduguri, Borno State. He added that the soldier went on AWOL after his base came under constant Boko Haram attacks in 2018.
The commissioner further revealed that the soldier-turned-armed-robber was arrested alongside one of his gang members, Raphael Nworie, aged 27.
Mohammed disclosed that the duo and others at large were responsible for the murder of Ominyi Chukwu, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, after they attacked Ozalla Division of the command at Agro-Allied Product Filling Station on the Obe/Agbani Road, Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State.
They had allegedly carted away two assault rifles and injured an Inspector of Police, Princewill Ebiriem, after the attack.
They also attacked and killed the Chief Security Officer of Amodu-Awkunanaw community, Onyebuchi Aninwagu, on July 19, 2020, and were alleged to have also made away with his pump-action rifle.
The police boss added that the arrests were due to intelligence and robust collaboration with other security agencies, including neighborhood watch groups and other stakeholders.
According to Mohammed, “It is expedient to say that these achievements were made possible by intelligence and robust collaboration with other security agencies, local security outfits like the neighborhood watch groups in the state, stakeholders and the general public as well as unalloyed loyalty, dedication and diligence of officers and men of the command.”
Items recovered from the suspects include six firearms, an AK-47 rifle, 15 ammunition, 36 live cartridges, one TV set, one mobile phone and one cutlass.
