{"id":4750,"date":"2026-02-18T15:45:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T15:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/?p=4750"},"modified":"2026-02-18T15:45:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T15:45:37","slug":"anambra-police-arrest-man-involved-in-kidnapping-for-ransom-in-awka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/anambra-police-arrest-man-involved-in-kidnapping-for-ransom-in-awka\/","title":{"rendered":"Anambra police arrest man involved in kidnapping for ransom in Awka"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Police in Anambra State have arrested a 32-year old man, Ifeanyi Ekemezie, over his involvement in kidnapping.<br \/><br \/>A press release by the state police command\u2019s spokesperson, SP Tochukwu Ikenga said the suspects is also linked to another gang member who had used his bank account to collect N1 million ransom from a victim who was kidnapped in December last year.<br \/><br \/>According to Ikenga, the man confessed to being a member of a three-man kidnap and car jacking syndicate, operating around Awka and environs.<br \/><br \/>His release stated: \u201cOperatives of the Anambra State Police Command attached to the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) Awkuzu, in the early hours of 17th February 2026, arrested one Ifeanyi Ekemezie, male, 32 years, at Isuaniocha.<br \/><br \/>\u201cDuring interrogation, Ifeanyi Ekemezie confessed to being a member of a three-man criminal gang that specializes in kidnapping and car snatching within Awka and its environs.<br \/><br \/>\u201cHe further admitted to being a member of the notorious Vikings Confraternity and to participating in various cult-related killings in Awka.\u201d<br \/><br \/>Ikenga stated that the arrest of Ekemezie was in continuation of an ongoing investigation involving conspiracy, cultism, armed robbery, and kidnapping in Awka and its environs.<br \/><br \/>\u201cThe case originated from an incident that occurred on 31st December 2025, when the victim was attacked, robbed and kidnapped at his residence in Amansea.<br \/><br \/>\u201cDuring the attack, his Toyota Highlander Jeep was carted away, and the sum of Three Million Naira (\u20a63,000,000) was transferred from his bank account. The victim was shot in the leg and later abandoned at an unknown location before he was subsequently rescued.\u201d<br \/><br \/>He said the incident had earlier led to the arrest of Ndubuisi Anyakaku, male, 33 years, on 13th February 2026, whose bank account was allegedly used to receive a ransom payment of One Million Naira (\u20a61,000,000) from a kidnapped victim in Awka.<br \/><br \/>The Command said it has intensified efforts to apprehend other members of the gang who are currently at large and to recover their operational weapons. It promised that further developments on the matter will be communicated in due course.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Police in Anambra State have arrested a 32-year old man, Ifeanyi Ekemezie, over his involvement in kidnapping. A press release by the state police command\u2019s spokesperson, SP Tochukwu Ikenga said the suspects is also linked to another gang member who had used his bank account to collect N1 million ransom from a victim who was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Anambra police arrest man involved in kidnapping for ransom in Awka - Security Focus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Anambra police arrest man involved in kidnapping for ransom in Awka\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/anambra-police-arrest-man-involved-in-kidnapping-for-ransom-in-awka\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Anambra police arrest man involved in kidnapping for ransom in Awka\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Anambra police arrest man involved in kidnapping for ransom in Awka\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/anambra-police-arrest-man-involved-in-kidnapping-for-ransom-in-awka\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Security Focus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-18T15:45:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/NIGERIAN-POLICE-FORCE.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"375\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Security Focus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Security Focus\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/anambra-police-arrest-man-involved-in-kidnapping-for-ransom-in-awka\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/anambra-police-arrest-man-involved-in-kidnapping-for-ransom-in-awka\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Security Focus\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/#\/schema\/person\/e73d482c4e4a38b5ee8d6e08344c5145\"},\"headline\":\"Anambra police arrest man involved in kidnapping for ransom in Awka\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-18T15:45:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/anambra-police-arrest-man-involved-in-kidnapping-for-ransom-in-awka\/\"},\"wordCount\":345,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/anambra-police-arrest-man-involved-in-kidnapping-for-ransom-in-awka\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/NIGERIAN-POLICE-FORCE.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/anambra-police-arrest-man-involved-in-kidnapping-for-ransom-in-awka\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/anambra-police-arrest-man-involved-in-kidnapping-for-ransom-in-awka\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/anambra-police-arrest-man-involved-in-kidnapping-for-ransom-in-awka\/\",\"name\":\"Anambra police arrest man involved in kidnapping for ransom in Awka - 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