ANAMBRA State Commissioner of Police, Echeng Echeng, has blamed the high level of insecurity in the state on residents’ refusal to give out information on the activities of criminal elements.
Echeng, who refuted the claims that perpetrators of kidnappings, killings, attacks, and destruction of public facilities are from outside the state, claimed that the criminals are known within communities and are not “unknown gunmen” as they are widely described.
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He said, “We have been saying unknown gunmen is not the right name for these criminals. We are trying to mystify something that is not just there.
“It is time we go into demystifying those people. These people are not spirits, they live with us, they are our nephews, our cousins, our brothers, and they live in communities. We know who they are. The problem of security is that of total silence, nobody sees something, nobody hears something and nobody says something.”
While speaking to newsmen at the Command’s headquarters in Amawbia on Monday, he reiterated that security is a collective and everyone has a part to play.
“Crimes are localized, and they happen in our communities. We should be able to come up with information about what is happening in our communities, not glorifying them and tagging them as unknown gunmen, otherwise, we will end up not making headways.
“We know them, we have actually arrested some of them and they are human beings. I want us to also shift the narrative that these criminals are Fulani. We have arrested some and taken out some during gun duels.
“So, when the community who should help to contribute to security decide to stay quiet, that is not a good sign.”
He recounted how an information gotten from an unidentified resident helped the police to clamp down on a group of four gunmen last week.
According to him, the criminals operated at Umunze in a Hummer Jeep and moved to Umichu before they were apprehended.
“You can see what information can do. That is how powerful information is, and we expect people to give information,” he said.
Echeng noted that the yet to be identified killers of Okechukwu Okoye, a lawmaker in the State Assembly, and his aide, Cyril Chiegboka, never demanded or received any ransom.
According to him, none of the hoodlums operating in the state lives in the forest, adding that the only things they have in the forests are their shrines.
The police boss however disclosed that the Command had identified the operational bases of the criminals, adding that police operatives had been deployed to go after them.
