Onitsha High Court was on Friday greeted with surprise as Corporal Victor Edet, a police officer who was in 2009 attached to Anambra State Headquarters of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Awkuzu, Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State displayed the weapons of mass destruction allegedly used by the kidnappers who abducted the Chairman of GUO Motors Limited, Chief Godwin Okeke, on August 23, 2009.

News Express recalls that the businessman was abducted six years ago while he was leaving All Saints Anglican Church Cathedral, Onitsha where he attended church service in company of his wife but was later released the following day after his family members paid his captors a ransom of N30m.

Though the trial had suffered a lot of set-backs, at the resumed trial on Friday, Edet, who is currently serving under the Kano State Police Command, mounted the witness box as the fifth Prosecution Witness, (PW5) before the court presided over by Justice Alexander Okumah and made some disclosures while displaying some of the weapons used by the gang.

The weapons include five Ak 47 riffles, 5,830 AK 47 ammunitions, two General Post Machine Guns, GPMG, 1,125 GPMG live ammunitions, one rocket launcher, five rocket launcher propellers, one K2 riffle, 124 AK 47 empty magazines, among others.

He narrated to the court how the police arrested some of the gangsters who kidnapped Okeke and recovered their weapons.

Led in evidence by the prosecuting counsel, Chris Ajugwe who is prosecuting the case with Anambra State Attorney-General’s fiat, Edet told the court that after kidnapping Okeke on August 23, 2009 and releasing him 24 hours later after the N30 million ransom payment, a security report came to the then state Commissioner of Police on October 17, 2009 that one Emeka Eze, a wanted notorious armed robber/kidnapper was sighted in Asaba, Delta State.

“On getting the report, the Police Commissioner quickly swung into action by setting up an investigating team of policemen from SARS, including myself and deployed us to fish out the wanted criminal sighted in Asaba,” he said.

He noted that on the process, a combined team of policemen and vigilante operatives led by the late Emmanuel Ochiobi, the then Officer In-Charge of SARS Unit, Onitsha swung into action and arrested Eze, a native of Nando in Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra State and took him to SARS headquarters, Awkuzu where he was interrogated.

The former member of the SARS team disclosed that the wanted kidnapper made a confessional statement to the police and admitted that he and his gang members usually carry out armed robbery and kidnapping operations within Anambra and it neighboring states.

He said that the suspect also mentioned some of his gang members to include Izunna, Ndubuisi, Big Black, Small Black, amongst others.

Edet added that the gang members known as Big Black turned out to be Kelechi Okafor, first defendant, while Small Black was Anthony Ifeanyi Okafor, the second defendant who he said were active members of the gang that participated in Okeke’s kidnap, as well as those who robbed some banks in Awka on August 24, 2009.

He stated that after Eze’s confessional statement, the police invited Okeke to come to the SARS headquarters at Awkuzu to identify Eze saying that as soon as Eze sighted the business man at the station, he knelt down and pleaded with him for leniency.

He stressed that Okeke eventually identified Eze as one of those who kidnapped him and then promised to be lenient to Eze only on the condition that he would cooperate with the police in handing over their weapon of mass destruction to the police and at the same time leading the police to the arrest of their gang members.

Furthermore, he said that while investigations were on-going, Eze led the police to the gang’s armoury at Nando where the displayed weapons were recovered that after the recovery of the arms and ammunitions, the suspect also led the police to different directions where the first and second defendants, Kelechi Okafor and Anthony Ifeanyi Okafor were arrested.

“While Kelechi was arrested in Asaba, Anthony Ifeanyi was arrested at Nsugbe where he was watching a football match between Liverpool and another team.

“Since their arrest and recovery of the weapons, no other bank robbery had been recorded in Anambra State since that 2009,” Edet noted.

The court however admitted and marked as exhibits, all the weapons displayed before it and the statements made by some of the defendants to the police after their arrests and also granted an oral application made by the prosecution counsel, Ajugwe for the police to return all the displayed weapons back to the police armoury at the state police headquarters, Awka.

Midway into the cross-examination of Edet by Oliver Oduma, counsel to Kelechi Okafor, the first defendant, the court adjourned further hearing till today (Monday) for continuation of the cross-examination of the defence counsel and counsel to other defendants and also for more prosecution witnesses to tender their evidences.

•Photo shows IGP Solomon Arase.

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