Clement Nanchi 
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Ebonyi Command, has arrested a man named Mr Chinagorom Njoku with 56 kilogrammes of Cannabis Sativa in the Ohaukwu Local Government Area in the State.
The State Commandant of the Corp Mr Francis Nnadi, disclosed this at the Command headquarters in Abakaliki while briefing journalists on its operations.
He said that the suspect was arrested alongside the younger brother, for illegally dealing in cannabis sativa popularly called ‘weed’ in local parlance.
According to him, “the family of the suspect has warned him and the younger brother who are all the custody of the corps, to stop the illegal sales of the banned psycho tropical substance on several occasions but, the advice has always fallen on deaf ears.
He said: “The suspect and his younger brother jointly sell the substance and since the family has warned them severally to stop their illegal activity, they decided to hide the substance”
“So, when they came and asked for the cannabis, one of the brothers told them openly that we have asked you not to sell this thing (cannabis sativa), and based on that I’m not going to release the substance to you.
“So, two of them conspired and stabbed their brother until he fainted; it was a passerby who took the injured man to the hospital.
“Our men received information and mobilised to the scene where the culprits were arrested and the 56 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa was impounded.”
The Commandant said that the Corp had completed an investigation on the matter adding that the suspects would soon appear in court.
On the arrest of other crime suspects who were nabbed for various crimes at different locations, the Commandant noted that the Corp would not rest on its oars until the criminals were completely flushed out of the State.
He said that the NSCDC was in collaboration with other sister security agencies to ensure that crime and criminality were stamped out of the State or reduced to the barest level.
He said that one of the arrested suspects was a registered member of the scrap dealers association who specialized in buying stolen irons and rods meant for state government projects.
“We got credible intel, swung into action and recovered irons and rods meant for government projects, on inquiry when we arrested his boy” Mr Samuel Nwambara, we found out that other things even the solar poles and panels that the government installed were recovered from his site.
“I sent my men to go and seal the site, and my men were attacked, of course, we had to do the needful and eventually, when the real owner came he testified that he received the stolen items from an ‘engineer’ suspected to be in charge of a government project.
“Imagine an engineer who was given the task of doing a project for the state selling the irons, rods and materials for the projects, that is economic sabotage.
“If there is nobody buying the materials from him, he will not do that; the investigation is ongoing and we are going to get him and once we get him, be rest assured that he is going to have his own day in the court of competent jurisdiction,” the commandant added.
The Civil Defence boss said that the Corp also arrested a suspected criminal, one Henry Nduka who specialized in stealing tricycles (keke napep) from unsuspecting owners and selling them outside the state.
“We arrested the suspect whom we believe is a member of a syndicate that specialised in tricycle theft in Abakaliki”
“Investigation is still going on to see if we can get the rest of the gang members and see how we can recover the rest of the stolen tricycles in the capital city,” Nnadi said.
Speaking further on the achievements of the corps in the areas of crime fighting, Nnadi said that the corp arrested a suspected burglar, a man in his middle 30s who specialized in breaking into people’s shops and homes and carting away goods and valuable items.
“He was caught in the act with quantities of bags of Garry looted from people’s shops; he is a serial burglar and he is under investigation and will be charged to court on conclusion of our investigation,” he said.
The Commandant who frowned at the level of crime and criminality especially among the youths in the state urged the citizens to always volunteer timely and credible information on the activities of criminals in their neighbourhoods.
