In a major security breakthrough, the Anambra State Police Command has arrested an armed suspected member of a proscribed secessionist group during a swift intelligence-led operation in Ihiala.
Operatives of the Rapid Response Squad, Awkuzu, stormed the area in the early hours of November 20, 2025, apprehending 25-year-old Friday Nnamdi Anyikame and recovering two pump-action rifles and 29 live cartridges.
Police sources said the suspect, during preliminary interrogation, confessed to belonging to an armed faction of a secessionist group and disclosed that he operates from a criminal camp in Ogbaru Local Government Area.
Reacting to the development, the Commissioner of Police, CP Ikioye Orutugu, fwc mnips PhD, hailed the operatives for what he described as a “precision-driven and coordinated operation,” adding that the Command will intensify its onslaught against criminal gangs undermining security in the state.
To this effect, CP Orutugu has ordered heightened security surveillance, aggressive raid operations, and strategic deployments across Anambra, insisting that the police are already tracking other fleeing members of the gang.
He urged residents to remain alert and provide credible information that could support ongoing security operations, reaffirming the Command’s commitment to restoring peace and dismantling criminal networks wherever they exist.