The Ebube Agu security network in Ebonyi State, on Monday, arrested seven armed robbery suspects for alleged theft of tricycles, drugs dealings and other crimes. They were arrested from various locations in the state.
The Commissioner for Internal Security and Border Peace, Chief Stanley Okoro-Emegha, stated this in Abakaliki while parading the suspects, adding that the suspects were in the habit of dispossessing unsuspecting members of the public of their tricycles, motorcycles and other valuables in the capital city and disappearing into their camp inside a thick forest.
He said most of them were arrested by the Ebube Agu security operatives, who penetrated their camp and launched an attack on them.
The commissioner stated, “After the governor unveiled Ebube Agu in Ebonyi State and we finished the processes with the police divisions, police command, the DSS, the NSCDC and other security agencies, we sent some youths for training under the Army and the police.
“To effectively do this job, we asked the police to go to some places we regard as flashpoints in the state for intelligence gathering. From that, we started getting information on the activities of these hoodlums.
“Yesterday (Sunday), we handed over six armed robbers to the police, even though it was on a Sunday. On Saturday, we handed eight suspects to the police. Some even surrendered and brought their guns and said they didn’t want to be criminals again and we are ensuring that those convicted go to prison.
“These ones here are the ones we have been tracking for four days now. Some of them operated here in the town and then moved to the thick forest of Okpoto, the boundary between Ebonyi and Enugu states, where they have their camp. The police have made several attempts to penetrate there, but each time they went there, these suspects would use guns and shovels to pursue them.
“It bothered me so much that I had to redesign the approach such that the Ebube Agu would go there and deal with them. So, for two days, we launched attacks on them. We recovered seven tricycles and nine motorcycles from them. In fact, one of them, who has just been taken to where we will gather more intelligence, said they had sold over 100 tricycles. They have buyers in Enugu, Port Harcourt and Onitsha. We are still working on these ones to extract more information from them; that’s why we have not handed them over to the police.”
One of the suspects, 26-year-old Nwali Chijioke from the Ikwo Local Government Area of the state, said he stole a power engine and a tricycle, and was at the point of selling them when he was arrested.
“I stole a keke and a big power engine, and it was when I was taking them to where I would sell them that I was caught by the Ebube Agu people. I must confess that I have been stealing for a while,” he confessed.