The Imo State Government has demolished identified criminal hideouts around the Coca-Cola area and other locations along Onitsha Road, Owerri, as the ongoing operation to dismantle criminal enclaves across the state intensifies.
DrumAfricanews reports that the operation was led by the Office of the Governor on Monitoring and Compliance, headed by Nze Chinasa Nwaneri.
Nwaneri as gathered went on the operation with technical support from the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Nigeria Police Force, Imo State Command.
During the operation, several suspected bandits were arrested, while weapons, quantities of suspected hard drugs and several vehicle number plates suspected to have been removed from stolen vehicles were recovered from the hideouts.
The suspects and recovered items were handed over to the police for further investigation and possible prosecution.
According to security intelligence available to the government, the demolished locations had been identified as hideouts frequented by criminal elements and are being investigated in connection with recent criminal activities within the axis.
Authorities are also investigating whether the locations may have harboured persons connected with the recent killing of a police officer attached to a serving commissioner in the state. Investigation into the killing and any possible connection with those arrested is ongoing.
Speaking on the exercise, Nwaneri said the operation forms part of the Governor Hope Uzodimma administration’s sustained effort to deny criminal elements places from which they can operate.
The government assured residents that operations against identified criminal black spots would continue across the state, while urging members of the public to provide security agencies with useful information about suspicious persons and activities within their communities.
