A 70-year-old man( name withheld) suspected to be a native doctor for the criminals terrorising Anambra State and the entire South-East under the codename unknown gunmen has been arrested in Unubi, in the Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State.
The chairman of the board of trustees of a civil rights group, International Society for Civil Liberty and Rule of Law( Intersociety), Emeka Umeagbalasi, disclosed this on Wednesday in publication circulated to journalists in Anambra State .
But in a swift reaction, the state Public Relations Officer,Ikenga Tochukwu, said he would not want to speak on the matter so as not to jeopardise investigations.
The PPRO said,”Be patient with us. We don’t want to disclose some of our strategies. Let them know that the Command is not folding its hands in unmasking these killers.”
“These things are intelligence-driven and there are already eyewitnesses. In due time, we will let Nigerians know as we will bring all the perpetrators to book.
Please, help us to tell Nigerians that a lot is being done.”
But Umeagbalasi in his Wednesday publication said the 70-year-old herbalist was apprehended by officers of the Department of State Services ( DSS).
Umeagbalasi said ” He has been arrested by the operatives of Anambra State DSS Directorate. His arrest is one of the high profile and intelligence and technology powered and fastest arrests in recent times in connection with violent crimes.
“His arrest was in connection with the abduction, disappearance, beheading and decapitation of Hon Okechukwu Okoye, an Isuofia Aguata-born Anambra State Assembly lawmaker who was abducted on 15th May 2022.
“It should be recalled that Intersociety had in its statement of 26th May 2022 (Killing of Northern Muslim Mother and her Children in Anambra…), independently disclosed the arrest of “some soft targets” (an Okada rider and an automobile mechanic) over the dastardly act and named Unubi as the location of the scene of the heinous crime(s).
“Intersociety which has been following the development behind the scene through its undercover agents also disclosed in its statement the arrest of the leader from Nneni of the street criminal gang whose members went on killing spree two days later, targeting defenseless civilians and their properties including the slain Northern Muslim mother and her children.”
The rights group said the native doctor was technologically trailed after he was found to have used the beheaded lawmaker’s sim-card to make criminal calls. Even after exhausting the sim-card ‘credit’; he completed the calls with his own cell phone.
He added, “The slayers of the kidnapped/beheaded lawmaker were earlier traced to Unubi where ransom running into millions of naira (some say, N20m) was physically delivered. The slayers collected the ransom and still went ahead to slay and decapitate the lawmaker.”
Umeagbalasi maintained that the cell phone of the slain lawmaker was put in monitoring devices during which it was found to have been used by the 70-year-old herbalist to make several criminal calls days after he was beheaded.
“It was at this juncture that one of the ‘soft targets’ was arrested in Igboukwu leading to third party identification and location of the arrested kingpin. Between early hours of 28th (last Friday) and 29th (last Saturday) May 2022, the house of the arrested kingpin was raided after he was tracked to be at home.
“He made a magical escape after several gunshots were fired at him and he escaped by jumping into a ditch. After recovering several incriminating items including guns and bullets and his portrait, the operatives trapped him by leaving behind one of his cell phones. Between late night of 30th May and early hours of 31st May 2022, the cell phone was tracked to a private hospital in Awka forcing the operatives of the DSS to storm the clinic where he was arrested alive in bandage while trying to board a tricycle, Umeagbalasi stated.
