Enugu Police Command Parades Over 20 Armed Robbery Suspects

Posted by African Examiner Enugu, Featured, Latest Headlines, News From The State Tuesday, April 5th, 2016

By Ignatius Okpara, Enugu

The Enugu State Police Command on Tuesday paraded over 20 armed robbery suspects, including two members of a notorious syndicate which specializes in tricycle snatching in the State and its environs.

Two among the suspects were alleged to be among those who killed some tricycle operators whose decomposing bodies were found in an uncompleted church building along the Enugu-Port Harcourt express way about two months ago.

Briefing newsmen at the Command’s headquarters on its major breakthrough, the State’s Commissioner of Police, Nwodibo Ekechukwu, gave the names of the syndicate as Kennedy Ihunegbo and Nonso Azubuike.

He said they managed to escape a similar case at keffi in Nasarawa State and relocated to Enugu early January, 2016.

The Commissioner stated that the two suspects, initially engaged in crimes of killing commercial motorcycles riders in Abuja, adding that in 2014, they spread their operations to Nasarawa State and had stolen dozens of motorcycles mainly in Ado area of the State.

The CP indicated that the duo commenced operations in January 2016, by stopping and entering tricycles at gun point, along Ogui road, mosque area of Artisan. He said they requested the rider on each occasion to drop them at their purported building site along Ugwuaji, off the Enugu-Port Harcourt way.

“The modus operandi of the duo, was to ask each tricycle operator conveying them to the purported building site, in a lonely area.

“They would then request the operator to carry blocs for them in the tricycle, to another location.

“The tricycle operator would be hit by them with a very big iron hammer on the head repeatedly as he bent to carry the bloc till he died.

“This was the method used in killing their seven victims on two dates each in January and March, 2016 at various times of the days.

“In an instance, the head of victims was shattered, the two would therefore take away the victim’s tricycle and sell it.

“They forged a dealer’s receipt of DON Investment limited Nnewi, to convince prospective buyers to purchase the tricycles.

“One mr. Emmanuel Ani of No.3 Muluakor street,Ogwogor,Abakpa Nike,Enugu and Oforbuike Eleke of Ngoigboukwu, Aguata, Anambra state,were among the respective buyers of the seven robbed tricycles, which were sold for between 250,000.00 and 350,000.00, at Enugu and Nnewi” the CP narrated.

The Commissioner further disclosed that among the items recovered from the suspects were two of the seven robbed TVS tricycles, one Ford car with registration No. AJ 656 EKJ, the big iron hammer used for killing their victims, a shovel for digging the shallow graves.

He informed that the suspects were luring out non-Igbo speaking tricycle riders apparently to avoid the operators understanding their conversations in local dialect.

He hinted that one of the suspects, Ihunegbo took ill and was taken to Enugu state University Teaching Hospital parklane, “unfortunately he died while receiving treatment on 19th March, 2016.

The suspect’s corpse he said, has been deposited at the University of Nigeria teaching Hospital mortuary, Ituku

“We will continue to make Enugu state very hostile for criminal elements” Ekechukwu vowed.