As the war against armed robbers and kidnappers continue to yield dividends in Imo state, men of Eagle Squad of the state Police Command have impounded large cache of arms at the armoury base of criminals in a bush located at the boundary between Amaraku, Mbano and Ikeduru communities.

The command has also declared eight suspected criminals wanted for terrorising the state.

The police Commissioner, Aloysius Okorie, who displayed the recovered arms and ammunition at the premises of the command, said the command has declared total war on criminals especially armed robbers and kidnappers and would stop at nothing in ensuring that they were either arrested or flushed out of the state.

The weapons seized by the Eagle Squad men during the operation include one multi-purpose machine gun (MPMG), five AK 47 riffles; 12 AK 47 magazines loaded with 30 rounds of ammunition each, 11 empty AK 47 magazines, about 3,000 live ammunitions as well as several MPMG Chain bullets loaded in a container.

According to the police boss, the arms and ammunition were seized by men of the command when they stormed the armoury base of the criminals in the bush following a tip off but the hoodlums fled on sighting the policemen.

It was further gathered that the criminals were usually conveyed to the bush in a black utility Jeep car with tinted glasses every early morning and take them out in the night.

Following a tip-off from someone who suspected evil, the men of Eagle Squad were engaged to mount surveillance on the area on the fateful morning.

While the team was combing the bush, there were several gun shots from the suspected armed robbers, who sighted the policemen first.

When the security operatives retaliated, the gang fled, abandoning the large cache of arms covered with a wrapper.

At the Eagle Squad department, officer in charge of the area, Mr. Bangs Kopshella, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), told our correspondent that his men were seriously hunting for the dislodged criminals and urged the members of the public to supply the command with any information on their whereabouts as well as the owner of the Jeep car they used for operation.

Meanwhile, the command has declared eight suspected criminals wanted in connection with series of armed robbery and kidnapping cases in the state and its environs.

Those declared wanted included John Kennedy Odinaka Anyanwu (alias Sanko) of Umuokee Ibeme Ugiri in Isiala Mbano who happened to be a J.S.S 2 student of Technical Secondary School, Inland Town Onitsha Anambra State, Chikodi Agwo alias Chikor, a native of Ebonyi state but resides. In Awka who happened to be a Volvo mechanic at Umuayom Awka and in his late 20s, one Onochie alias Nochis from Anambra state but resident at Umuayom, Awka, and one Agwuiyi, a 300-level project management student of Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), who also resides in Umuayom, Awka, with his parents. Other members of the notorious gang on the wanted list of the command are one Chijioke and another one simply identified as Dada Hair.

According to a statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Linus Nwaiwu, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), a combined team of Crack, Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and the Eagle Squad intercepted the gang on Egbu road and after severe exchange of gun fire, arrested one Augustine Ogbonna, a native of Nkwelle in Awka South Local Government Aare of Anambra state and a 300-level law student of Anambra State University, Igbariam campus.

The team recovered N2.752million cash from him, among other items.

The police statement noted that the said Augustine mentioned the above named suspects as members of his gang, adding that investigations so far revealed that one John Kennedy Odinaka Anyanwu and Chikodi Agwo were the ring leaders of the armed robbers/kidnappers, who have been terrorising the South-east zone.

The statement further said that the fleeing criminals were suspected to be hiding some where in Delta State and urged members of the public to be on the look out for them and avail the police of any useful information that could lead to their arrest.