During the operation, the leader of an armed robbery group was apprehended, according to a statement released on Sunday by Daniel Ndukwe, the state’s police spokesman.
According to Deputy Superintendent Ndukwe, the operation occurred on Friday after police received information regarding illegal activities in the area.
A spokesperson for the police command said that agents stopped the suspects along the Onitsha-Enugu Road in the state’s Diamond Estate Axis.
He claimed the alleged thieves committed “heinous crimes within Enugu metropolis and environs under the nebulous name of “unknown gunmen,” a label typically ascribed to hoodlums responsible for instability in the South-east.
Chinenye Nwadike, the alleged ringleader, was detained in Ndiagha, Amechi-Uwani, part of the Enugu South Local Government Area in Enugu State, according to the police.
Ndukwe claimed that “others” from the group “escaped with bullet wounds.”
The police spokesperson added that the operatives found a yellow tricycle stolen by the gang at gunpoint earlier that Friday evening in the neighbourhood.
The police said they found two assault rifles, one pump action gun built in England, one made locally, one with a double barrel, and 349 rounds of 7.62mm live ammo.
In addition, there are 25 live cartridges, a sledgehammer, the head of a war axe, four machetes, two bottles of perfume, and a couple of trinkets that may be charms.
According to Ndukwe, Ahmed Ammani, commissioner of police in Enugu State, praised the operatives for putting the police’s crime prevention policies into practice and achieving an operational breakthrough.
Ammani instructed the operatives to keep their resolve and pursue the fugitives.
The state’s police commissioner has called on the populace to maintain lawful and vigilant lifestyles and to provide the police with the information they need to crack down on crime.
