One of the suspected killers of a retired Chief Superintendent of police in Imo State, Christian Kpatuma has been arrested by the state police command.
The development was disclosed by the Commissioner of Police, Rabiu Hussaini during a press conference on Friday.
The retired police officer was reported to have been beheaded on the 1st of February and his corpse was dumped in front of his compound.
The suspect apprehended was identified as Deberechi Chukwu.
According to the commissioner of police, Chukwu was arrested by the command’s tactical team while trying to escape to a border state.
He said, “Sequel to a report of a case of Murder received by the Agwa Divisional Police Headquarters that, on 01/02/2022 at about 2152 hours, a group of young men suspected to be cultist resident in Mgbala Community Agwa in Oguta LGA of Imo State, conspired amongst themselves went to the house of one Christian Kpatuma, a retired Chief Superintendent of Police ( CSP ) and a native of Mgbala, abducted and took him to a nearby bush where they killed him and later carried the corpse back and dump it in front of his compound.
“After the diligent gathering of both forensic and technical intelligence, one of the suspects, Deberechi Chukwu, the leader of the cult group that killed the retired police officer, CSP Christian Kpatuma was arrested while escaping to a border state.
“In the course of Investigation, it was revealed that the suspect, Deberechi Chukwu is a notorious kidnapper and an escapee from the Imo Correctional Center Owerri, Imo State. The suspect, after escaping from the Imo Correctional Centre, recruited young men into his cult group and were terrorising the Agwa community.
“It is also, on record that, he was involved in the killings of a lot of security personnel in the state.”
