By Okey Maduforo 


Anambra Police Commissioner Nnaghe Obono Itam has announced that four children who were sold in Bauchi State had been recovered in Anambra State.


This is coming as the Commissioner announced that by the end of this year 2025 , the rate of crime would have been reduced to thirty percent in line with the Gov Charles Soludo security program known as Operation Udo Ga Di.


The  Commissioner of Police, Nnaghe Obono Itam, while speaking to reporters in Awka also  stated that security operatives in the State will do everything within their power to reduce the crime rate by 30 percent in 2025. He urged stakeholders in the State, including the Traditional Rulers and President Generals  of various communities, and residents, to partner with the police for effective policing.


The State Commissioner of Police made the statement while briefing journalists at the police headquarters in Amawbia, Awka South Local Government Area, on the activities of the command in 2024. During the briefing, 13 criminal suspects involved in murder, kidnapping, and other criminal activities were paraded.


The police commissioner revealed that in 2024, they arrested 325 criminal suspects, secured 30 convictions, and rescued 14 kidnapped victims.


Speaking on the fate of the four children he announced that the suspects confessed to the crime and narrated the role each of them played. 


Itam said that one of the children had been identified, and efforts were already in place to reunite the child with their parents.


"The Command wishes to use this opportunity to request that you, the media, assist in sharing the pictures of these innocent children for possible identification and reunification with their parents," he said.


He further stated that in the early hours of December 24, 2024, a joint security operation led by the Nigeria Police Force, comprising the military, civil defense, and Anambra Vigilante operatives, successfully dismantled a criminal camp located in Nimo, Njikoka Local Government Area. 


According to him, the operation resulted in the destruction of several makeshift structures within the camp, the recovery of 19 unexploded improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and significant injuries inflicted on fleeing suspects.


He said the operation followed credible intelligence regarding the activities of the criminal gang in the area, coupled with information obtained during the interrogation of suspects arrested in ongoing police operations across the state.


Itam also reported that police operatives attached to the Special Anti-Cultism Squad, Enugu-Ukwu, acting on credible information, arrested one Miracle Mwakalor, 18 years old, from Umubele village, Awka-South Local Government Area, on December 6 and they recovered one AK-47 rifle and one magazine from him . According to him, the operatives raided the criminal gang's den during a debrief about their plans to commit havoc in Nibo, Awka South Local Government Area.


He said that while Miracle was apprehended, his other gang members escaped and during interrogation, he confessed to the crime and led the operatives to an apartment in Ubuofu, Awka, where the recovered rifle had been hidden in the roof.


The commissioner stated that the command rescued four children allegedly stolen from their parents in Bauchi State and sold into the state. He called on those looking to adopt children to follow the proper process by going to orphanages rather than buying stolen children.


"Police operatives attached to the Anti-Cultism Squad in Enugu Ukwu, Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State, raided an identified black spot in Umunaga Village, Awka South LGA, in the late hours of Saturday, December 7, 2024. During the operation, one Okechukwu Chinwuko (27 years) of Umunaga Village and Ezenwa Chinedu (22 years) of Umuneri Village were arrested. Other incriminating items recovered included one pump-action gun, four live cartridges, a cutlass, criminal charms, and substances suspected to be hard drugs. The operatives also rescued two female victims who had been sexually assaulted by the suspects," he stated.


The commissioner also noted that they had suspects who murdered their brother and buried him in a shallow grave in a compound at Oko. The deceased, Chibuzor Okeke, was accused of burglary and theft.


According to him, his brother, Chidiebere Okeke, and his cousin, Emebo Ogochukwu, caught him and beat him into unconsciousness and Chibuzor was rushed to the hospital, where he was confirmed dead, inorder  to cover up the incident, the two suspects dug a shallow grave in their compound and buried Chibuzor.