Posted by From CHUKS ONUOHA, Aba on
Two police officers from the Abia State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) have been brutally murdered in Iyiekwe, Azumiri, Akwuete in the Ukwa East Local government Area of Abia State.
Two police officers from the Abia State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) have been brutally murdered in Iyiekwe, Azumiri, Akwuete in the Ukwa East Local government Area of Abia State.
The two police officers, Inspector Cherechi and Sergeant Francis Egwu were alleged to have been butchered to death and one of them buried in a shallow grave in the palace of the traditional ruler of the community.
Inspector Cherechi and Sergeant Egwu, together with some other policemen, were assigned to arrest a crime suspect said to reside opposite the monarch's palace, when they were made to suffer a cruel fate.
Daily Sun gathered that the police team had effected the suspect's arrest when some members of the community insisted that he must not be taken him away.
The disagreement reportedly soon degenerated and the policemen got detained and their three AK47 rifles seized.
Sensing danger, the other policemen who accompanied Inspector Cherechi and Sergeant Egwu on the assignment reportedly managed to escape but the duo was unlucky.
An Ngwa man just like the assailants, Inspector Cherechi was to have spoken his dialect to the people, thinking that their hearts would be touched, but his pleas reportedly attracted beatings and machete blows.
"The more he spoke, the more the assailants dealt him and his colleague machete blows until they died," a police source told Daily Sun.
After the gruesome murder, Inspector Cherechi's corpse was buried in a shallow grave at the backyard of the monarch's palace.
A police team, drafted to the village after the incident, located the grave and exhumed the slain Inspector's corpse. The corpse of Sergeant Egwu is yet to be found as at the time of filing this report.
The traditional ruler has fled the community along with those suspected to have participated in the dastardly act.
The Abia State Police Public Relations Officer, Ali Okechukwu confirmed the murder of the two cops.
Okechukwu said though the killers tried to wash the blood of their victims off the gates of the palace on the night of the incident, smears of fresh blood were still visible.
According to the police spokesman, investigation into the murder had begun, even as the suspects were at large.
He confirmed that the police team was assigned to arrest a man in the community, adding "They had arrested the person, but the villagers insisted he will never leave the community with the policemen.
Okechukwu assured that those involved in the callous act would be hunted down and made to face justice.