The Imo State Police Command says it has arrested 184 suspected criminals and rescued three kidnapped victims in a series of intelligence-led operations carried out across the state within the last two months.
Addressing journalists in Owerri on Tuesday, the Commissioner of Police, CP Audu Garba Bosso, said the arrests were linked to offences including kidnapping, terrorism, armed robbery, cultism, murder, rape, defilement, sexual assault, vehicle snatching and other violent crimes.
Bosso disclosed that the operations led to the recovery of two AK-47 rifles, several locally made firearms, 382 rounds of assorted ammunition, magazines, vehicles, motorcycles, cult items, a human skull and other suspected criminal exhibits.
The Police Commissioner said one of the Command’s major breakthroughs followed the arrest of two suspected kidnapping kingpins, whose confessions led operatives to a kidnappers’ hideout in the Egbema River creek on July 6. He said the camp was dismantled, seven additional suspects were arrested and three kidnapped victims were rescued unharmed.
According to him, investigations revealed that the gang was also responsible for the killing of two personnel of the Imo State Homeland Security at Umuguma, Owerri West Local Government Area, during an attempted kidnap on May 16, 2026.
Bosso further disclosed that operatives, acting on intelligence, recovered an additional cache of 346 rounds of live ammunition and seven rifle magazines from the Obiakpu swamps in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area on July 7.
The Commissioner also confirmed the arrest of a 58-year-old suspect over the alleged sexual abuse of two 15-year-old minors in Orsu Local Government Area and a 19-year-old suspect for the alleged defilement of an eight-year-old girl in Ngor-Okpala.
He assured residents that the Command would sustain intelligence-driven operations to dismantle criminal networks across the state, while urging members of the public to continue supporting the police with timely and credible information.
