Gunmen kidnap Police Inspector on duty in Imo

The family of a serving police officer, Inspector Eku Egim Eku, has expressed deep concern over his continued captivity after he was reportedly ambushed and abducted by heavily armed gunmen while on official duty in the Orlu area of Imo State.

The incident has left family members devastated, with growing fears over the officer’s safety as efforts to secure his release remain uncertain.

According to the family, Inspector Eku was carrying out official state duties when he was attacked and taken away by the armed assailants in the volatile Orlu axis, an area that has witnessed security challenges in recent years.

Speaking to SaharaReporters on Saturday, a direct sibling of the abducted officer exposed how the family’s frantic appeals for assistance from the state police command have been completely stonewalled.

It was gathered that Inspector Eku was officially drafted by his unit command on Monday to provide armed security escort and bank guard services at a financial institution in Orlu town—a geographic zone that has been heavily criminalized by violent separatist gunmen and rogue militia cells.

The inspector was, however, intercepted midway through his journey by the gunmen, disarmed, and dragged into the dense forests characteristically used by terrorists as operational bases in the state.

“One inspector, EKU EGIM EKU, has been kidnapped by armed terrorists in Imo State,” the victim’s brother cried out to SaharaReporters.

“The said inspector is my brother. He was kidnapped on Monday while on his way to Orlu in Imo State for a bank guard duty.”

The most damning aspect of the officer’s disappearance is the alleged refusal of the top brass of the Imo State Police Command to acknowledge the incident or initiate standard hostage-rescue protocols, leaving the family entirely at the mercy of the non-state actors.

The source lamented that five days after the state-actor was captured while flying the flag of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the command has not offered a shred of operational or psychological solidarity to his immediate kin.

“All efforts from us the family proved abortive as the command CP is totally not willing to offer any support,” the heartbroken sibling revealed on Saturday.