Three persons have been arrested over their alleged involvement in the murder of police operatives and members of a neighbourhood watch group at Igga community, Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State.
The breakdown showed that the deceased are two policemen and three neighbourhood watch group members.
They were gruesomely murdered by harboured criminal members of the Igga Community in Uzo-Uwani LGA in the evening hours of Friday, May 3, 2024, police said.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, stated that, “On the same date, a combined security team of three policemen and four neighbourhood watch group provided security for a team of visiting investors from Lagos on a tour of a proposed agricultural investment site in the area.
“However, 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 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.”
Ndukwe said in the course of a full-scale investigation and a search and manhunt operation launched thereafter, three males suspected to have masterminded the attack were arrested.
“Their revelations during interrogations led to the discovery and recovery of the slain policemen and neighbourhood watch group members in the forest on May 4, 2024,” he said, adding that, “Their lifeless bodies were taken to the hospital, confirmed dead by doctors, and deposited in the mortuary for preservation and autopsy.”
The Commissioner of Police, Kanayo Uzuegbu, described the unprovoked gruesome murder of the personnel “as inconceivable, dastardly, and unwarranted”.
He therefore ordered further deployment of the command’s intelligence and operational resources to sustain the manhunt of the fleeing criminals, stressing that the police would stop at nothing to bring the perpetrators of the act to book.
Uzuegbu cautioned those who, “in an attempt to misinform and mislead unsuspecting members of the public are circulating unverified videos alleging the burning and looting of houses in the community by joint forces to desist forthwith”.
He advised members of the Igga community, particularly “the criminal elements directly involved in the unthinkable and wanton act of murdering serving police officers and others to voluntarily surrender themselves to the police without delay.”