An Army deserter, Godwin Chukwuemeka, has been arrested by police operatives for alleged involvement in the April 5 jailbreak at the Owerri Correctional Centre in Imo state.
Parading the 35-year-old suspect, the Special Adviser on Media to the state Commissioner of Police, Mike Abatam, said Chukwuemeka was also involved in the attack on the Police Command Headquarters in Owerri.
Abatam, a Chief Superintendent of Police, who described the suspect as a “notorious criminal” said he had committed many heinous crimes in the state.
He alleged that Chukwuemeka was still using military insignia despite the fact that he had been dismissed.
Abatam said “Following reliable information, tactical teams of the Imo command stormed the hideout of a notorious suspected criminal in the Owerri Nekede area, where one Godwin Chukwuemeka, aka Match and Die, 35, was arrested inside the ceiling of his residence.
“The suspect is alleged to be a dismissed soldier of the Nigerian Army. On interrogation, he confessed to being among the hoodlums, who attacked the Imo State Police Command Headquarters and the Correctional Centre, Owerri, earlier this year.
“Meanwhile, the following items were recovered from the suspect: a cut-to-size double-barrelled gun, a black browning pistol, two live cartridges, one expended cartridge, military camouflage and desert boots.
“The Commissioner of Police urged the officers and men of the command to sustain the tempo of the moment. He commends the good people of the state for their support and solicits an all-society approach to improve security in the state.”
Chukwuemeka told journalists that he ran away from the military because of the insurgency in the North.
He said he fled the military camp in the North-East to enable him to sit for his final examinations at the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Owerri.
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