Murdered Policemen, Neighborhood Vigilante Member: Enugu Police Arrests Three Suspects

Operatives of the Enugu state police command have arrested three suspects, described as masterminds of the unprovoked and gruesome murder of two of its men and three members of the Neighborhood Watch in Igga community, Uzo-Uwani council area of the state. 

The development is contained in a statement made available to newsmen by command spokesperson, DSP Daniel Ndukwe on Sunday. 

According to the statement, the servicemen were providing security cover for visiting investors when they were murdered early evening of Friday, May 3, 2024. 

The statement noted that visiting investors were on a tour of an agricultural facility in the said community when the killers swooped on them in large numbers, guns blazing.

In the aftermath, the visitors, alongside leader of the security team, an Assistant Superintendent, ASP, and one Neighborhood Watch member, managed to escape the onslaught and were subsequently rescued by security reinforcement, the rest were not so fortunate. The two policemen and Neighborhood Watch members were however, not so fortunate. 

"...the team was ambushed and attacked by a large group of the criminal elements, who opened fire on them. Upon the unprovoked sudden attack, members of the team scampered for safety, while an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), who led the team, one Neighbourhood Watch personnel, and the three (3) member team of investors were later rescued by a policemen team that immediately mobilized to the crime scene. 

"But the eventually murdered members of the team went missing and unaccounted for," the statement read in part.

The statement explained that the bodies of the slain officers were later recovered in the course of investigation, during which the suspected masterminds, whose confessional statements led to the recovery, were picked up. 

"... in the course of a full-scale investigation and a search and manhunt operation launched thereafter, three (3) males suspected to have masterminded the attack were arrested. Their revelations during interrogation led to the discovery and recovery of the slain policemen and Neighborhood Watch Group members in the forest on May 4, 2024."

The statement noted further that the bodies of the murdered security operatives have taken to the morgue for autopsy.

While reacting to the incident, the state police boss, CP Kanayo Uzuegbu, described the unprovoked criminal act as inconceivable, dastardly, and unwarranted.

The Commissioner, who has since ordered the deployment of the Command’s intelligence and Operational resources to sustain the manhunt of the fleeing criminals, stressed that the command will stop at nothing to bring the perpetrators to justice. 

However, he cautioned against the spread of misleading information, particularly some circulating unverified videos, alleging houses in the affected community were being burnt and looted by joint security forces. 

While assuring the people of the state that the command will not be deterred in its vowed commitment to safeguard lives and property, he urged those behind the misleading videos to desist forthwith as the command will not hesitate in hunting and bringing them before the law. 

The commissioner also enjoined those involved in the criminal act to voluntarily surrender themselves to the police without delay, assuring that with or without voluntarily surrendering, the command with hunt them down.