Operation Flush Out Criminals in Anambra As Joint Military Team Arrest 4, Recover Hemp In Onitsha

The suspects being paraded by the combined team of security agencies

Four suspected criminals were yesterday arrested by a joint team of armed forces who are currently raiding suspected criminal hideouts in all nooks and crannies of Anambra State.

The suspects and over 100 kg bags of india hemp recovered from them at Obosi

The operation, according to sources, is part of Governor Willie Obiano's initiative and avowed determination to rid the state of criminal elements and criminalities.

 

Some traders at Obosi market, watching the arrest of the suspected drug dealers

A convoy of the joint team, comprising the Army, Navy, Police, Department of Security Services, DSS and National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA had on a tip-off, stormed the hideout near the Old Motor Car Spare Parts (Mgbuka) Market, Obosi, near Onitsha at about 12 noon, arrested the four suspects and recovered some bags and wraps of suspected to be Cannabis Sativa (Indian Hemp) estimated to weigh a little less than 100 kilograms..

According to an eye-witness, as the suspects sighted the team, they took to their heels but in a concerted effort, five of them were tracked down, while others escaped into a nearby bush. Efforts to arrest more suspects proved abortive as the team left the area after thorough combing and firing tear gas gannsisters.

However, when the team which took off from the 302 Military cantonment, Onitsha, returned with the suspects and their Indian hemp, they interrogated them briefly and discovered that one of them was just a passerby and they released him to go.

One of the principal suspects who identified himself as Chibuzor Echendu, a native of Imo State, confessed to newsmen that he was a major distributor of Indian hemp in the area, adding that Samuel Nonso who was also among the four suspects in the team's net, was once his apprentice in the hemp business.

Some of the residents of Mgbuka Obosi market who witnessed the joint operation, commended Governor Obiano for setting up the joint team and urged him to sustain the tempo until all the criminal elements are flushed out and adequate security maintained in the state.

The residents who gave their names as Pastor Kingsley Ezeoke of the Jesus Transformation Ministry, Diaku Ifesinachi, Mrs, Uche Okeke, Victor Ezechi and Chibuzor Nnabuchi, regretted that some hoodlums had attacked unsuspecting residents of the area within that same spot by way of snatching their motorcycles and dispossessing them of their valuables.

They however urged the joint team not to harass and intimidate law-abiding citizens while carrying out their duties.

The grand commander of the joint team and state deputy commissioner of police, Agyole Abeh told newsmen shortly after the exercise that the operation started about 10 days ago, adding that a considerable arrests and recoveries have been recorded by the team since its inception.

The leader of Army team, Captain Tukuru and his NDLEA counterpart, Ameh Inalegwu who is also the Assistant State Commander incharge of Operations/Intelligence, said the operation would continue until all the criminals in the state are flushed out of existence