Operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Imo State Police Command, on Wednesday, March 25th, 2020, arrested a suspected, fugitive kidnapper, Ifeanyi Asiatugbulem, 34, two years after his gang allegedly engaged the police in a deadly gun battle.

The suspect was said to be a member of the gang of the notorious, billionaire kidnap kingpin, Collins Okoronknwo, popularly known as E-money, an ex-police corporal, who was killed on January 27th, 2018, with two of his other gang members, during a gun duel with SARS operatives at Atta in Ikeduru Local Government Area (L.G.A.) of Imo State.

Briefing journalists, the Imo State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, Orlando Ikeokwu, said Asiatugbulem was nabbed in Akwa Ibom State on Wednesday, March 25th, 2020, where he had set up a new gang and continued with kidnapping and armed robbery.

The PPRO said the arrest of Asiatugbulem was a major breakthrough for the police command in its efforts to fight crime in the state.

Ikeokwu stated,

On March 25, 2020, at Ikot-Akwa in the Nsit-Atai Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, based on credible intelligence and discrete investigation, operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad arrested one Ifeanyi Asiatugbulem, 34, and one Kingsley Johnson, 20, for various kidnapping and armed robbery incidents.

It will be recalled that on January 27, 2018, at Attack in the Ikeduru LGA, Imo State, the billionaire kidnap kingpin, Collins Okoronkwo, aka E-money, an ex-police corporal, was shot dead during a gun battle with the operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad.

Asiatugbulem escaped and went ahead to form another kidnap and armed robbery gang and had since been terrorising Imo State and other neighbouring states.

He has, however, confessed to the crime and his role in various operations, especially with regard to Collins Okoronkwo, aka E-money. He will be charged accordingly.

The suspect told news reporters that he was the gang’s driver of the slain billionaire kidnap kingpin.

Asiatugbulem said he met Okoronkwo in Owerri several years ago, when he was working as a commercial motorcyclist.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.