The
Abia State police command has been outsmarted by several suspects who
escaped from police custody and made away with two AK 47 rifles, leaving
the police perplexed and frantically searching for the fleeing
suspects...
The
development was disclosed yesterday by the state police commissioner,
Mr. Leye Oyebade while briefing journalists at the state command
headquarters. He said that the suspects escaped from the anti-kidnapping
section of the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) located
right inside the state command headquarters in Umuahia.
Though
he did not give the number of suspects that escaped from detention, it
was gathered that over a dozen suspects made their way out of police
custody at about 1.30am last Saturday.
The
CP said that the rifles which the suspects took away were kept outside
the armoury for quick response to emergencies, adding that the fleeing
suspects apparently took away the guns to facilitate their escape.
According
to him, the suspects escaped from detention due to the
negligence/abandonment of duty post by the officers who were scheduled
for duty on that fateful night.
However
he said that three of the escapees had been re-arrested. He gave the
names of the recaptured suspects as Emeka Ukaegbu, Kingsley Anyim, and
Chijioke Chukwu, adding that one of the missing rifles had been
recovered.
“All
the officers involved in the act of negligence/absence from duty have
all been taken through the force approved disciplinary action process
and dismissed from the force, and will be prosecuted soon,” Oyebade
said.
The
dismissed officers include four males and two females. It was learnt
one of the female officers fainted when she sighted a television camera
during the press briefing.
The
Abia police boss said that he was pained “because these same officers
have been responsible for up to 95 per cent of our success story in this
command, but we cannot compromise any act that will bring damage to the
image of the force.”
One
of the recaptured suspects Ukaegbu confessed to journalists that the
police officer on duty helped in their escape, saying, “the officer on
duty that night gave me the key to lock the VIP cell, so I collected the
spare key and gave it to one girl (in detention over child trafficking)
outside the cell, to open the door for us.”
He
further narrated that “when the girl opened the door, one Kenneth now
at large went and collected the guns, he gave me one but I dropped it
because I could not carry”.
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