The Imo State Police Command has said that it did not refuse to take two people who were caught by the local security team called Ebubeagu. These two people are suspected of being involved in a robbery.
Our reporter learned that Ebubeagu caught the suspects after a robbery happened on August 31. During this robbery, a person named Chidi Okolie was reportedly shot.
Chidi, the person who got hurt, said that Ebubeagu caught two people who might have done the robbery. But when they took these people to the Orlu Police Division, the police did not take them right away. The reason was that Ebubeagu kept the suspects with them longer than they were supposed to by the rules.
The police, through a spokesperson named ASP Henry Okoye, explained what happened. He said he talked to the Area Commander of the Orlu Division to clear things up. The police did not refuse the suspects but needed a doctor’s check-up to make sure they were okay because they had been with Ebubeagu for a long time.
ASP Henry Okoye said, “We checked the health of the suspects, and they are fine. Now, they will be moved to the State Headquarters for more questions and checking.”
He also said the big boss of the police, CP Aboki Danjuma, will have a meeting with leaders of local security groups. They want to talk about how to work better together and follow the right steps when dealing with crimes.
A security expert, Mr. Chinyeaka Amadi, gave his opinion. He said Ebubeagu made a mistake by keeping the suspects with them. According to him, their main job is to help the police, not to act like the police by judging or charging people who might have done crimes.
Mr. Amadi explained, “The police are trained to look into crimes and are allowed by law to take suspects to court. Vigilante groups like Ebubeagu should only help catch suspects and then give them to the police. It’s not safe to keep suspects because they might get hurt or try to run away, which can be a big problem.”