Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force have arrested sixteen (16) suspects for complicity in a series of violent and unprovoked attacks on security operatives and facilities in some states of the Federation, particularly in the South-Eastern part of Nigeria.
The arrest is an outcome of painstaking, deliberate and tireless efforts by operatives of the Nigeria Police working in collaboration with their counterparts from the Nigerian Army and the Nigerian Airforce.
In a statement by Frank Mha, force public relations officer, the arrest is aimed at bringing to justice persons responsible for the emerging trend of attacks on security personnel and wanton destruction of security facilities and operational assets.
The suspects, MBA said, are Ugochukwu Samuel a.k.a Biggy, 28-year-old native of Arochukwu LGA in Abia State; Raphael Idang, 31-year-old native of Odukpani LGA of Cross River state; Cletus Nwachukwu Egole aka ‘Alewa’, 60-years-old native of Orlu in Imo State.
Others are Michael Uba, 33 years from Imo State; and twelve others in the course of investigation, were implicated in multiple felonies committed across several states in the South-Eastern part of the Federation.
Police investigations clearly established and linked the suspects to several incidents of attacks and murder of security personnel as well as stealing, unlawful possession of firearms, arson and malicious damage to operational assets of military and law enforcement agents.
Specifically, investigations revealed that the duo of Ugochukwu Samuel aka Biggy and Raphael Idang were among the criminal elements that attacked policemen on duty at a checkpoint on 24th December, 2020 along Orlu-Ihiala Road in Imo state where two police officers were killed and a Police Hilux patrol van set ablaze.
In addition, both were part of a larger group that attacked a police reconnaissance team on 13th January, 2021 killing one police officer.
Ugochukwu Samuel who sustained a bullet wound during an attack by his gang on a military convoy in which some soldiers were killed and weapons carted away, was subsequently arrested while receiving treatment in a hospital. Both suspects confessed to being active members of Indigenous People of Biafra and Eastern Security Network (ESN).
