The Anambra State Police Command has denied torturing an armed robbery suspect to death in its facility.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Tochukwu Ikenga, in a statement made available to ANN, said the suspect died shortly after he was rescued from an angry mob.
“The attention of the Anambra State Police Command has been drawn to trending news on social media platforms alleging officers serving in the ‘B’ Divisional Headquarters, tortured a man to death and labelled him an armed robber, over an undisclosed issue.
“The command went into investigations on these allegations and discovered that is not true, but malicious, a product of fiction, the handiwork of mischief-makers and an attempt targeted to tarnish the image of some police personnel serving in the command, and to incite members of the public against the Police Command.
“To set the records straight, on 28/3/2023, by 10:35pm, police operatives responded to a distress call along the Secretariat Road, Awka, rescued a suspect from an angry mob and recovered a locally made gun with one expanded cartridge allegedly used in robbing his victims.
“The suspect, later identified as Chibuike (surname withheld), collapsed after being rescued by the police, and was immediately rushed to the hospital but later confirmed dead by a medical doctor. Meanwhile, investigation is still ongoing as the command is still studying the video footage of the mob action, to identify those behind this act.
“The Commissioner of Police, Echeng Echeng, has reiterated the campaign against mob action and encouraged the public to take suspects to police stations, whenever they are apprehended; this will help the police to conduct proper investigations into the activities of the suspects and bring them to justice under extant laws.
“Henceforth, the command shall invoke relevant sections of the cybercrime act against any happy trigger writer/social media influencer whose aim is to publish falsehood and cause disharmony in the state,” the statement reads.
