Operatives of the Operation Clean and Healthy Anambra, OCHA Brigade, Taskforce and Anambra Vigilante Service have arrested three pickpockets, around Upper Iweka, Onitsha.

 

Chukwuemeka Okafor, from Orlu, Imo state is suspected to lead the three-man gang and they were arrested while conducting their act yesterday.

Their mode of operation according to the Brigade was to partner a driver and a conductor to deprive unsuspecting members of the public their hard-earned money.

 

Speaking to the ABS, Mr. Okafor confessed to the crime and said that he learnt the business from a group of friends in Onitsha and revealed they make roughly eighty thousand naira everyday.

According to him, working with a driver and conductor is usually easy to intimidate or harass anyone who catches them in the act and pleaded for mercy while advising residents to always be careful and mindful of anyone who sits besides them especially in Onitsha as there could be many fraudulent activities going on in the buses without their knowledge

 

Addressing the press shortly after the parade of over thirty-four suspects charged with different crimes, the Public Relations Officer of OCHA Brigade, Mr. Anthony Agbafune said, the agency would make the state uninhabitable for all criminal elements.

 

He explained that their officers observed that the suspects, who were around the said area in the commercial bus, looked suspicious and that they looked uneasy after driving past them and his men kept track of the suspects for a few minutes, before double-crossing their vehicle somewhere in the city.

Mr. Agbafune urged Ndi Anambra to be vigilant and conscious of their environment at all times and ensure that any suspicious movements are reported to the agency or to the nearest Police Station and promised that the suspects will be handed over to the police and would be charged to court for different count charges, including impersonation, touting, selling of hard drugs, defilement, illegal revenue collections among others.