POLICE ARREST SUSPECTED KILLERS OF RETIRED ARMY MAJOR GENERAL, RICHARD DURU IN IMO
Retired Major General Richard Duru was abducted and killed in September 2023, according to reports from a lethal kidnapping syndicate that the Imo State Police Command has apprehended.
The suspects were paraded at the command headquarters in Owerri, the capital of Imo state, along with thirty-two other suspected criminals involved in varying degrees of crime throughout the state. Henry Okoye, the Public Relations Officer for the command, stated that the reason the arrest went well was because the men and officers of the command used proactive operational strategies to combat violent crimes and other related offenses in the state.
The command achieved a significant success with the apprehension of the perpetrators responsible for the kidnapping and murder of retired Major General Richard Duru, who was abducted from Bishops Court, Area 7, Orji/Uratta Owerri, in his black Mercedes. Notably, the suspects had collected a ransom of $50,000 from his family before taking his life.
The arrest of the general’s killers was made possible by the tireless efforts of the anti-kidnapping unit’s operatives, who tracked down the gang through meticulous intelligence gathering and persistent surveillance, ultimately leading to the capture of the gang leader and other members of the terrorist organization.
The Police Public Relations Officer also revealed that one of the suspects, Chukwunonso Emmanuel, from Idemili North LGA Anambra State, was arrested in Lagos while trying to obtain a new number plate for the general’s Mercedes Benz car.
He explained further that his arrest led to the arrest of the other two members of the gang, Okoroigwe Goodness and Innocent Ogu and they confessed to the crime.
Okoye maintained that over the past two months, the command had recorded significant achievements in the onslaught against crime and criminality in the state, resulting in the arrest of 435 suspects for various criminal offences ranging from murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, terrorism, advance fee-fraud, cultism activities, stealing and receiving stolen properties.
“A total of 48 different firearms and 552 various calibres of live ammunition were recovered in the course of intelligence-led operations, continuous raids of suspected criminal hideouts, and painstaking investigations during which 13 kidnapped victims were rescued unhurt and 10 snatched vehicles were recovered,” he said.
He commended the operatives of the Command’s Anti-Kidnapping Unit led by CSP Oladimeji Odeyeyiwa, for their proactiveness in apprehending the suspected criminals who have been terrorising the state.
He assured that the command under the Commissioner of Police, Danjuma Aboki, will not relent in its fight against banditry and all forms of criminality in the state.