562 Suspected Criminals Arrested by Police in Q4 in A’Ibom

Okon Bassey in Uyo

Suspected criminals numbering 562 were apprehended for various offences, including murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, rape and stealing in the last quarter of 2023,  the police in Akwa Ibom have disclosed.
The Commissioner of Police, in the state, Olatoye Durosinmi, disclosed this at the weekend while briefing journalists  at the command headquarters, Ikot Akpanbia in Uyo.

According to him, some of the suspects had been charged to court, others granted bail, while some were still undergoing investigation.
The  state police boss listed some of the offences as: Vandalism and economic sabotage by one Godwin Effiong,  male from Eket Local Government Area, who allegedly conspired with four others to vandalise pipeline belonging to Frontier Oil and stole 18 jerry cans of 25 litres of crude oil on November 18.

The CP added that during the period under review, one Francis Eze and Johnson Amadu, armed with locally made gun robbed a Point of Sales (POS) operator, Glory Akpan and went away with her POS machine, android phone and N300,000 cash.

“For the yuletide,  I deployed 1, 758 officers and men to effectively provide security during the Christmas and am happy that we had a peaceful celebration.
“I must say that our security strategies and our collaboration with sister security agencies has led to a more peaceful Akwa Ibom.

“During the last quarter of the year  a total of 562 suspects were arrested for various offences, ranging from murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, rape and stealing,” Durosinmi said.
Durosinmi also stated that on November 21,  Samuel Jackson and Favour Friday all male from Oruk Anam were arrested for stealing a three-year-old child of one Effiong Akpan.

He said the suspects had confessed to have stolen the child and sold to her to a certain woman at Abia through a third party, stressing that efforts were in progress to arrest other suspects and rescue the child.
He warned criminals operating in the state to have a change of heart or relocate out of the state as Akwa Ibom is no longer safe for criminals.