The Abia State Police Command reported that it has arrested 110 individuals for different crimes since January. Out of the total arrested, 108 were male and three were female.
Before showing some of the arrested individuals, the state Commissioner of Police, Kenechukwu Onwumelie, and the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Maureen Chinaka, informed the press that there were also nine rescued children, 16 pregnant women possibly involved in child trafficking, and kidnapped victims, among others.
The police also found and seized 23 locally made single-barrelled shotguns, eight locally made double-barrelled shotguns, 37 live cartridges, two pistols, one Dane gun, and one toy gun. Additionally, they recovered 11 vehicles, four auto rickshaws (keke), and nine motorcycles connected with various crimes like kidnapping. They also recovered 12 bags of substances believed to be cannabis sativa (Indian hemp) or other illicit drugs, along with 202 pieces of railway sleepers.
Other items recovered included electric cables, damaged transformer compressors, two stainless axes, one dagger, one expended cartridge, four knives, seven Toyota vehicle keys, vandalized cable wires, 11 cutlasses, three torchlights, two spikes, one laptop, one brown handbag, water dispensing cans, electric wires, house/office keys, an ultrasound machine/blood pressure apparatus, three rings, one fire lighter, 24 iron stands of poles containing nuts, and four iron cutters.
The police also mentioned the recovery of 10 phones, four red EFCC jackets, two EFCC ID cards, and four EFCC search warrants. They also found one police and one military camouflage bulletproof vest, five denim police uniform shirts, a ballistic helmet with ‘JTF’ inscriptions, a pair of number plates with ‘ARAB 01’ inscription, a UBA ATM card, bags of liquid substances suspected to be crude oil, nine pillows, 15-bed sheets, pairs of foot matches, eight mattresses, a constant energy generator, a 6kg gas cylinder, 11 carpets, 89 curtain rods, an OPL standing fan, and eight plastic chairs.
The CP also mentioned other items such as a bag of charms, carved images, iron mortar, a face mask, a tube of Neo-skin cream, a bathing soap, an empty eyeglass case, a small empty plastic container, a lighter, a DSTV recorder, mp3, small tiger generator, non-serviceable radio, a cash sum of N127,000, a screwdriver, a bunch of keys, and other objects.
After the parades, Onwumelie stated that the command had made significant progress in reducing incidents of armed robbery, kidnapping, government property vandalism, child trafficking, rape, and arson.
He also mentioned that many cases were taken to court, and some were successfully prosecuted.
