A police inspector, identified as Augustine Ukegbu, has been killed by yet-to-be-identified gunmen during Easter holiday in Imo State.
NIGERIACRIME learnt that the deceased was killed at his village at Umuoshike Ogbor in the Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area of the state during the holiday.
The incident reportedly happened on April 8, around 11 pm.
According to a police source, who spoke anonymously, the assailants whisked the inspector away from his house upon his arrival in Owerri but his dead body was later found in a bush along Mbutu in the Aboh Mbaise LGA.
According to the police source, “Inspector Augustine Ukegbu who was serving at Orji police divisional headquarters went home to celebrate Easter with his family at Aboh Mbaise. Around 11 pm, on April 8, some gunmen riding in a Lexus jeep came and kidnapped him from his house in the village.
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“The abduction was reported at Oke Ovoro police Division. The jeep he was kidnapped with was later found abandoned along the Mbutu Road in Aboh Mbaise. Policemen visited the scene and the surrounding bush was searched and the inspector’s corpse was found.”
Police operatives were said to have deposited the victim’s corpse in a mortuary in the area and also recovered the Lexus jeep that the assailants used for the operation.
Also reacting to the incident, another colleague of the deceased said the day Ukegbu departed for his village, the two of them were together.
He said, “I saw Inspector Augustine in Owerri and he told me he was travelling to celebrate Easter with his family at Mbaise. We exchange pleasantries and I wished him journey mercy. He was serving at Orji police divisional and had served at the headquarters in Owerri. He was an operative of SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) Department. I am saddened by his death.”
The spokesperson for the police in the state, Henry Okoye, said that the command had commenced an investigation into the kidnap and killing of the Inspector.