ICW catches 18 suspected burglars

Ini Billie, Uyo

Akwa Ibom State security outfit, Ibom Community Watch (ICW), said it has apprehended over 18 suspects in Uyo, the state capital, and handed them over to the police.

The newly launched security outfit said the suspects allegedly burgled people’s shops and stalls during the yuletide when the owners were away and attempted to loot their goods.

Speaking in Uyo while receiving the Center for Human Rights & Accountability Network (CHRAN) on behalf of the Commissioner, Ministry of Internal Security and Waterways, Akwa Ibom State, Gen. Koko Essien (rtd) at his office, Commander of ICW, Isantim Kenneth Okon, said the suspects set out on a burgling spree when most shop owners had locked their shops and moved to the Christmas village to sell their wares during the yuletide.

Okon explained that the ICW team mounted surveillance around some spots in Uyo, which enabled them to apprehend the suspects who were immediately handed over to the police for investigations.

He stated that in 2023, unlike other years, the cases of rape and theft around the Christmas village greatly reduced as men of Ibom Community Watch took over the security of the area and ensured that such crimes were averted.

He revealed that the agency works in synergy with other security agencies, especially on intelligence sharing.

“During the yuletide, we used to have cases of rape car theft etc., especially at the Christmas village. We heard stories of how some boys dragged some girls to the banking layout to take them.

“To stem the tide, we told our recruits to take over the security of that place and it has worked tremendously; now we did not hear many stories on that. 

“Also, ICW apprehended over 18 suspects that went to break people’s stalls because the owners moved to the Christmas village, so they started breaking their stalls.

“We apprehended them and handed them to the police for further investigation, but this is not a political affair. When armed robbers strike, they don’t consider party affiliations, so security is everyone’s business,” he stated.

Okon stated that all the recruits of ICW would be profiled, and urged people to disabuse their minds that the outfit has a political undertone, and the recruits are cultists, assuring that it is purely a security outfit and everyone should be involved in security matters.

Speaking earlier, the Akwa Ibom State Director of CHRAN, Otuekong Franklyn Isong commended the governor and the House of Assembly for enacting the law establishing the commission to address the issues of internal security in the state.

Isong charged the agency to be diligent in its duties by ensuring that issues of vandalism, cultism, trafficking especially within Ibom Plaza, kidnapping, and other forms of security threats are addressed.

He applauded Governor Umo Eno for providing 14 gunboats to the Navy to tackle Maritime insecurity and called on him to provide more gunboats and other logistics, noting that the 14 gunboats already provided will not be enough to go around the waterways in the state.

The director sought continuous training of the ICW recruits and the establishment of a human rights desk for complaints from the public to give the agency a human rights face.

He charged them to move to university campuses and check the activities of scavengers and cattle rearers whose cows he alleged have continuously destroyed farmers’ crops.

He advocated for the provision of a cattle ranch for the rearers to stop the issues of open grazing in the state, and charged them to be proactive, saying that CHRAN would police the activities of the security agency.