{"id":5425,"date":"2026-03-27T08:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T08:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/?p=5425"},"modified":"2026-03-27T08:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T08:12:13","slug":"imo-police-nab-suspected-cultist-seize-firearms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/03\/27\/imo-police-nab-suspected-cultist-seize-firearms\/","title":{"rendered":"Imo Police Nab Suspected Cultist, Seize Firearms"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Operatives of the Imo State Police Command, in synergy with the State Security Organization, have arrested a suspected cultist and recovered from him, a firearm in Nekede, Owerri West LGA.<br \/><br \/>The arrest, according to the Command\u2019s spokesperson, Henry Okoye, followed credible intelligence on suspicious movements along Old Nekede Road in the early hours of March 21, 2026.<br \/>\u200e<br \/>\u200eOkoye said that acting swiftly on the intelligence, the Operatives mobilized to the scene and apprehended one Bright Chidi, a 26-year-old male.<br \/><br \/>One locally made single-barrel pistol and one live cartridge were recovered from him.<br \/>\u200e<br \/>The police\u200e spokesperson, hinted that during preliminary interrogation, the suspect confessed to being a member of the Vikings Confraternity, a cult group linked to violent criminal activities within the area.<br \/><br \/><br \/>He stated that the case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, for consolidation of investigation, while efforts are ongoing to apprehend other members of the syndicate.<br \/>\u200e<br \/>\u201c\u200eTo this end, the Commissioner of Police, CP Audu Garba Bosso, has ordered a sustained intelligence-led crackdown on criminal elements across the state and urges residents to support the police and other security agencies with timely and credible information to enhance public safety,\u201d Okoye added.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Operatives of the Imo State Police Command, in synergy with the State Security Organization, have arrested a suspected cultist and recovered from him, a firearm in Nekede, Owerri West LGA. The arrest, according to the Command\u2019s spokesperson, Henry Okoye, followed credible intelligence on suspicious movements along Old Nekede Road in the early hours of March [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5425","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 v27.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Imo Police Nab Suspected Cultist, Seize Firearms - Security Focus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Imo Police Nab Suspected Cultist, Seize Firearms\" \/>\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\/03\/27\/imo-police-nab-suspected-cultist-seize-firearms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Imo Police Nab Suspected Cultist, Seize Firearms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Imo Police Nab Suspected Cultist, Seize Firearms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/index.php\/2026\/03\/27\/imo-police-nab-suspected-cultist-seize-firearms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Security Focus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-27T08:12:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.securityfocus.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/HANDCUFF1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"976\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"549\" \/>\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=\"1 minute\" \/>\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\\\/03\\\/27\\\/imo-police-nab-suspected-cultist-seize-firearms\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.securityfocus.ng\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/27\\\/imo-police-nab-suspected-cultist-seize-firearms\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Security Focus\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.securityfocus.ng\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/220178e1e8e4a686a310b9a5c516c887\"},\"headline\":\"Imo Police Nab Suspected Cultist, Seize Firearms\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-27T08:12:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.securityfocus.ng\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/27\\\/imo-police-nab-suspected-cultist-seize-firearms\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":203,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.securityfocus.ng\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.securityfocus.ng\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/27\\\/imo-police-nab-suspected-cultist-seize-firearms\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.securityfocus.ng\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/HANDCUFF1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.securityfocus.ng\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/27\\\/imo-police-nab-suspected-cultist-seize-firearms\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.securityfocus.ng\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/27\\\/imo-police-nab-suspected-cultist-seize-firearms\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.securityfocus.ng\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/27\\\/imo-police-nab-suspected-cultist-seize-firearms\\\/\",\"name\":\"Imo Police Nab Suspected Cultist, Seize Firearms - 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