Operatives of the Anambra State Police Command from Abagana Divisional Headquarters have arrested four suspects from Ifitedunu area of the state for allegedly burning a 74-year old woman to death.
The suspects included a 21-year-old lady, Chinyere Ekwenugo, who allegedly conspired with others to kill the woman in a wheelchair.
The state’s Police Public Relations Officer and a Superintendent of Police, Tochukwu Ikenga, who disclosed this in a statement to newsmen in Awka, said that the incident occurred around 9am on Sunday.
Ikenga said: “During interrogation by the police operatives, the suspect, Chinenye Ekwenugo, confessed that her boyfriend, Ifeanyi Igwe, who is currently at large, and three others set the victim ablaze.
“They brought a casket to bury her before the intervention of the security operatives.”
Ikenga said the three other suspects are: Uzochukwu Okeke, male, 47; Fidel Anayo, male, 60; and Ikenna Anene, male, 54, all from Abagana area.
He said that the police operatives also recovered the burnt remains of the deceased, the wheelchair, and a casket.
The police image maker said that the police had also initiated a move to arrest the main suspect, Igwe, who is currently on the run.
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He said that the body of the deceased has been deposited in the morgue for autopsy and further probe of the cause of death.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Nnaghe Itam, while reacting to the incident, appealed for calm and ordered the immediate transfer of the case to the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation Department of the command for a comprehensive investigation.
The PPRO also said that operatives of the Anti-Cult Unit of the command at Enugwu Ukwu, acting on information at 1:30pm on Saturday arrested one Maduka Okoye, male, 25, of Abagana area.
Ikenga said that the operatives also recovered three expended cartridges of a pump action gun at a shooting scene in Ezichike community of Abagana during the operation.
He said that the suspect had confessed to being a member of the Baggars Confraternity.
He quoted the suspect as saying: “I was in a beer parlour drinking with my friend when the Axe Men Confraternity attacked us.”
The PPRO said that the attack could have led to a cult war before the police moved in to stop it.
“The police has since restored calm in the area,” he said.
Ikenga said that the suspect was currently assisting the police in an ongoing operation for possible arrest of the fleeing gang members and already identified members of the rival cult group, especially those actively involved in the shooting.
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