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| Ezenwa |
Operatives of the Inspector
General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT), has said it recovered
13 buildings, 13 vehicles and N100million belonging to a suspected policeman
turned kidnapper, identified as Corporal Collins Ezenwa aka E-Money.
The late Ezenwa is
alleged to also be involved in robbery and part of gang that had been
terrorizing Southeast and South-South part of the country.
The police revelation
came to the fore, just as Amnesty International, Nigeria, through PremiumTimes,
accused IRT of human rights violations in handling the Ezenwa’s case.
IRT operatives, Lagos
State branch, under Philip, were said to have taken over the case from Imo
State Command, after Ezenwa was killed.
Amnesty
International alleged that IRT operatives had taken over some of the multi-billion
naira properties of the deceased and were also collecting rent on some of his
choice houses and paying into two bank accounts. AI insisted that police took
over the property without due process and court order.
According to police
sources, IRT was on Ezenwa’s trail before he was gunned down by policemen
attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, attached to the Imo State
Police Command, in 2018, after they accosted him during a robbery operation,
Owerri Imo State. Arrested along with him were some bankers and a real estate
agent, allegedly working for him.
The source said: “The
IRT uncovered during it investigations that E-money, who was a dismissed police
Corporal working at the Imo State Police Command, also has links to robbery
gang, hijacking oil vessels on the high sea and sell off its products to
waiting buyers. E-money, who joined the Nigeria Police Force, in the
2009, made billions of naira of from his nefarious criminal
activities. He bought several choice properties including hotels and exotic
cars within Imo, Abia and Enugu State, within the space of two years. “
One of his friends,
Onyekere, advised him to quit his police job and travel out of the country as
people might start suspecting that he could have made his money through crime.
E-money quit his police job, traveled out of the country for weeks. He returned
and bought a hotel in Enugu. He also made a deposit of N100 million to a fix
deposit account which his wife was also a signatory.
Police were said to have
started investigating E-Money in 2017, after Emmanuel and David Ofong, were
kidnapped along the Nsukka Kogi Road, Enugu, by a gang of kidnappers and a
ransom of $2million was demand.
David was released,
while the kidnappers held onto Emmanuel, asking for additional money.
“IRT operatives had a
tough time tracking and arresting him because he was always on the move,
jetting out of the country,” said a police source.
IRT were still hunting
for him, when news came that he had been killed. “ He was killed along with two
of his members. But since Chief Emmanuel Ofong, who he kidnapped was still
missing, IRT continued with investigations. IRT in the process, arrested a
banker working for him. The banker told IRT that Ezenwa’s wife had a fixed
deposit account credited with N100m. IRT
also arrested a property agent who assisted him in buying his properties.”
The police said it
recovered 13 choice cars allegedly belonging to Ezenwa.
Relatives and wife of
Ezenwa, petitioned the National Human Right Commission and the Amnesty
International, insisting that IRT had confiscated some of Ezenwa’s property and
money.
Police lawyer, Nosa
Uhumwangho, stressed that IRT operatives had violated in handling Ezenwa’s
case. He emphasized that due process was followed.
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