CP Kenechukwu Onwuemelie, Abia State Commissioner of Police, has praised Governor Alex Otti for his assistance to security agencies in the fight against abduction and other kinds of criminality in sections of the state.
The Commissioner of Police stated this over the weekend while leading a team of “Operation Crush” troops and some Abia State government officials to two schools taken over by kidnappers in the Lekwesi town of Umunneochi Local Government Area, Abia state
During Umunneochi’s visit, a tunnel suspected of being used by kidnappers to transport victims into the bush was uncovered.
He stated that the schools he saw had been neglected for a long time and that rehabilitation would make it harder for thieves to utilize them as dens.
CP Onwuemelie further stated that the entire area is vast, and the culverts visible in the bushy sections may be used to hide victims.
“Because if you are unaware that those culverts exist and are passing by, you will simply cross over them. There is a potential that any structure that provides shelter, including culverts, could be utilized to hide kidnapped victims, but we must also inform you that the challenge of kidnapping has been handled extremely well in Abia State over the last seven months,” he stated.
Commander Macdonald Uba (Rtd), Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters and a member of the team, claimed that past governments did not build roads around the schools, and that kidnappers took advantage of the circumstances to utilize the locations as their nest.
He said the Abia State Government would do the road and reopen the schools but advised the host villages to always provide timely information to the state government and security operatives.
According to Ferdinand Ekeoma, the Governor’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, information from security services revealed that the tunnel was used to drop off abduction victims after they had paid a ransom.
Ndubuisi Ike, Chairman of Umunneochi LGA, stated that kidnappings in the area have decreased drastically.
Mr Ike, who claimed that the kidnappers vandalized the two schools and sought to dominate the area, praised Governor Otti and security agencies for their efforts.
Some members of the Lekwesi community, including Stephen Udeogu, Mr. Njoku Augustine, and Anthony Akuma, stated that after kidnappers invaded the Lekwesi secondary school, students were relocated to the Lekwesi primary school, where the kidnappers chased the students out, occupied the schools, and began using the buildings as kidnap dens.
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