3 suspects arrested as police burst kidnappers den with CCTV cameras in Enugu ‘Centenary City’
From Maurice Okafor,Enugu.
The Enugu state police command on Friday, January 19, burst a highly sophisticated kidnappers’ den located within the vast and fast-developing layout known as Enugu Centenary City, with three suspects arrested.
The centenary city is situated along the Enugu to Port Harcourt expressway but extends over a kilometre into the hinterland of the Obeagu-Awkunanaw community in the Enugu South local government area.
The kidnappers disguised their hide-out as a block industry. Several heaps of block, block moulding machines and other equipment are displayed within the environment. There are several poles of Solar-powered CCTV and PTZ cameras mounted around the spot.
The Enugu state police command said they acted on information provided by ECTDA to have discovered, raided the the hide-out and made wonderful discoveries.
In a press statement made available to newsmen on Friday, January 19. the Enugu state police and public relations officer(PPRO), DSP Daniel Ndukwe, said they arrested three suspects while some others escaped during their operation. He gave the names of the three suspects as Emmanuel Nwabude, Emmanuel Eze and Anthony Onochie.
He said the command recovered eight pump action guns, four live cartridges and 26 expended cartridges, a machete,13 assorted phones, One DVD player, four bags of clothes suspected to have been stolen and charms during the raid. Whereas the arena of the disguised block industry was mounted with solar-powered CCTV and PTZ cameras. The cameras were strategically mounted to note and monitor movement to and from the environment from their hide-out.
The Enugu State Commissioner of Police, CP Kanayo Uzuegbu said the suspects will be charged in court after police investigations.
Briefing newsmen at the site of the disguised block industry on Saturday, January 20, the Enugu state commissioner for information, Mr Akaeze Aka, said the discovery of the Kidnapper’s den was a result of Governor Peter Mbah’s commitment to the safety of lives and properties of all people resident in the state, and his desire to make Enugu a haven for investments.
He explained that the property is not in the state government gazette, stating there is an existing government directive issued since October 2023 to all property owners or developers to revalidate their properties so ascertain what kind of business their building is meant for on completion, as a measure of curtailing crime. However, the owner of the structure or his developer is not known and did not comply. Unfortunately what is ground has been disguised into a sophisticated kidnapper’s den.
He assured intending investors that Enugu state remains a haven for their investments. He urged them not to be deterred by negative videos by unknown persons trending in social media, stating otherwise.
The Executive chairman, of Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority(ECTDA), Hon Uche Anya, who also briefed newsmen at the scene corroborated Mr Akaeze Aka’s statement. He said ECTDA invited the police based on intelligent information of the existence of a criminal hideout in Enugu Centenary City.
Hon. Anya stated, “ECTDA operation on Friday, January 19, was based on an intelligence report about an illegal development/property that served as a kidnappers’ den at the Centenary City.
“In the course of our diligence, we also found out that the property like many others in the centenary city had no title or approval from the appropriate authorities. Though the building was not fully completed, the criminals had already mounted sophisticated surveillance equipment such as CCTV cameras, and PTZ cameras, in addition to two dozen mobile phones, denoting the dangerous level of sophistication”, the ECTDA chairman stated.
He explained that ECTDA’s action to have demolished part of the structure is usually an ECTDA measure in waging criminality and halting illegal developers.
End.
