From Ifeoma Ejiofor
A Joint Security team comprising Police from Oba Divisional Police Headquarters and Anambra Vigilante Operatives in Idemili South LGA of Anambra State has arrested six suspects for allegedly hiring sick persons to beg for alms.
The suspects were arrested on 16th April 2025 at 6.30 pm during a raid on an uncompleted building at Isu village, in Oba.
The suspects according to the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for Anambra State command, Tochukwu Ikenga, are Doris Basil ‘f’ aged 28 years, Peter Ezedike ‘m’ aged 38 years, Susan Monday ‘f’ aged 27 years Ogechi Okoro ‘f’ aged 27 years, Solomon Sunday ‘m’ aged 29 years and Kenneth Achi ‘m’ aged 29 years.
The PPRO said that the operatives also recovered six mobile phones and Eighty-two thousand, four hundred naira (#82,400) in denominations of #50, #100 and #200 Naira notes and took in safe custody four ill persons from appearance suffering from brain tumour, breast cancer, and other terminal sicknesses.
He said operatives also provided first aid for the sick persons and sought higher intervention for their treatment and safe return to their various homes.
Meanwhile, the Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Ikioye Orutugu(CP9 noted that Section 419 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act deals with obtaining property by false pretense, also known as “419 fraud” is a felony that carries a potential penalty of three years imprisonment.
CP Orutugu expressed worry over the level of moral decay of individuals who take undue advantage of sick persons in the society.
He directed the immediate interrogation of the relatives of those sick persons to ascertain their level of culpability noting that all the suspects would be charged to Court on conclusion of investigations.