Police in Enugu said on Saturday that they arrested a man, Okechukwu Kenneth, who allegedly defrauded people on false claim that he works in the office of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
The 39-year-old was among 16 suspects arrested for various offences that include conspiracy, murder, armed robbery, unlawful possession of firearms, fraud and cultism in the state.
Enugu police spokesman, Daniel Ndukwe, in a statement said that six locally-made firearms with four live cartridges, 16 .9mm live ammunition, two cutlasses and one axe were recovered from the suspects.
He added that Okechukwu’s arrest followed series of complaints about his activities.
Mr Ndukwe alleged that Okechukwu also defrauded a local government chairman on the guise of presenting issues to the governor.
Ndukwe said preliminary investigation showed that the suspect hails from Adaba village in Uzo-Uwani LGA but resides at Agbani, in Nkanu West Council and reportedly lost his job at the State Ministry of Finance for alleged acts of stealing and fraud.
He gave names of other arrested suspects as Ezeugwu Osita, 16, Abonyi Chigozie, 16, Ugwuanyi Stanley, 16, and Isiani Ogechukwu, 17.
He said they were arrested for robbery at Opi, Nsukka and were armed with cutlasses, axe and had gained entry into a house at Ibeku, Opi-Nsukka and robbed the occupants of the sum of N22,000.00.
“The suspects confessed to the crime and identified one Eneh Cyril who was also arrested, as the native doctor who arms them with charms, ” he added.
He also said that Uchenna Chukwuani, 21, and others who used a one-chance Mitsubishi commercial bus attacked and robbed passengers at gunpoint have been arrested.
The spokesman said another man, Chukwuebuka Ngene, was arrested in Agbani for the killing of Okenwa Ifeanyi, in 2016 during a cult war between Black Axe and Vikings Confraternities at Agbani, Enugu.
He said his confession led to the arrest of one Obinna Chukwu (Little Johnny) his fellow Black Axe member, adding that one locally-made cut-to-size single barrel gun with one live cartridge was recovered.
