By Adadareporters
The criminal elements that masterminded the gruesome murder of policemen and local vigilantes at Igga community of Uzo-Uwani LGA of Enugu State have been advised to surrender.
Enugu State Commissioner of Police, CP Kanayo Uzuegbu, gave the order in a press statement signed by the command’s public relations officer, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, on Monday. He also announced the arrest of three persons in connection with the incident.
Our correspondent gathered that the deceased were two policemen and three neighbourhood watch group members.
They were gruesomely murdered by harboured criminal members of Igga Community in Uzo-Uwani LGA in the evening hours of Friday, May 3, 2024, Ndukwe.
He added 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.”
CP Uzuegbu described the unprovoked gruesome murder of the personnel “as inconceivable, dastardly, and unwarranted”.
He therefore directed 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.
CP Uzuegbu advised 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 urged members of 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”.
