Kidnapping Epidemic: Police Beef Up Security In Imo LG

The Police Commissioner in Imo State, Aboki Danjuma, has deployed more men to  Owerri West Local Government Area of the state amid an upsurge in kidnapping and other violent crimes.

This is to stop the increase in violent crimes in the Owerri West LGA.

On January 24, 2024, the command announced that its operatives had rescued the immediate past chairman of the Imo State Council of Traditional Rulers, Samuel Ohiri, from the kidnappers’ den after spending three weeks in their custody.

Naija News reports that the move comes amid rising wave of kidnapping attacks in states across the country.

A similar demand for ransom was made in December 2023 by the people who kidnapped the parish priest of St. Michael’s Catholic Church Umuekebi in the Osuowerre autonomous community  Rev. Fr. Kingsley Eze, also known as Father Ichie, along with his driver, Uchennna Newman.

In a statement released on Friday in the state capital of Owerri by police spokesman Henry Okoye, it was revealed that the CP’s action was prompted by the discovery of three decomposing corpses in the forest that were thought to be kidnapping victims.

Suspected Fulani herdsmen kidnappers had been terrorizing the  Owerri-Port Harcourt freeway axis, using the forest as a hideout.

Numerous kidnapped victims and their families accused the Fulani herdsmen of drugging them or their relatives in that area on multiple occasions.

The statement read, “The Commissioner of Police Imo State Command, CP Aboki Danjuma, in his continued commitment to improving the overall safety and security of the state, has, on 1/2/2024, convened a pivotal security meeting with the stakeholders of all the communities in Owerri West LGA.

“The meeting was necessitated by an upsurge in violent crimes in these areas and the recent discovery of three unidentified decomposing corpses suspected to be kidnapped victims in a forest spanning across FUTO, Nekede, Ihiagwa, and Obinze.

“The meeting, which was held at the Ihiawa Civil Clan Centre, provided an opportunity for the CP and his management team to interact and cross-fertilise ideas with stakeholders of the respective communities in Owerri West LGA on the prevalent security challenges within their locality and collaboratively roll out proactive strategies that will improve the peace and security of their communities and other areas in the state.

“The all-important security meeting had in attendance representatives of the Commander 34 Artillery Brigade, Obinze, Director of DSS, Imo State Command, Traditional Rulers of Eziobodo, Okolochi, Umuokpo, Nekede, Obinze, and Eziokole communities, Sarki Hausawa of the region, and delegates from Ihiagwa, Umuchima, Obinze, Umuanunu, the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), the Hunters Association, and other communities in Owerri West LGA.

“They interacted and shared ideas on how to peacefully coexist and assist security operatives in the onslaught against crimes and criminality in the state.”