IN the beginning: THE precarious security situation in the country assumed a frightening dimension on March 2, 2013,  when a serving Commissioner of Police, Chinwike Asadu was gruesomely killed by gun men in Enugu. The Police boss who was in-charge of Kwara State was in the city en route to Port Harcourt for the annual police games when he was brutally shot to death in front of his private residence.

Immediately after his death,  the Inspector-General of Police, Muhammed Abubakar gave marching order that his killers must be fished out, dead or alive.  While Nigerians waited with baited breath, the rumour mill took over as different stories of the circumstances that surrounded his death were bandied  both in the newspapers and public domain.

Some said he was a victim of a raging land crisis in Kwara State while others said he was involved in chieftancy dispute in his country home, Nsukka.   Yet, others said he had a disagreement with Police authorities in Abuja and the only way out was to eliminate him.

While these postulations spread like wild fire, Police authorities mobilized a crack team from both the Force headquarters, Abuja, Special anti-robbery squad, SARS, and Criminal Investigations Department, CID, Enugu, and swung into action with a view to meeting the deadline given by the IGP for them to round up perpetrators of the heinous crime.

Suspected killers

Few months later, the IGP who was on an official visit to Enugu State Police Command jolted the nation by announcing that the suspected killers of the Commissioner of Police had been rounded up.  In spite of the  uproarious reaction that heralded the announcement, some Nigerians still agitated for more explanations.  They  sought for not only the motive but the conviction that the suspects who reportedly confessed to the crime, were the real perpetrators.    Unfortunately, the only response from the police was that they have been charged to court and remanded in prison custody.  This gave room for  more speculations and postulations.

Those charged to court: However, a week-long investigations carried out by Crime Alert  in Enugu and its environs revealed the daunting tasks faced by the police in their efforts to nab the suspects.  The investigation also unearthed some of the criminal exploits of the remanded suspects, their operational strategies and most importantly, the identity of not just those arrested but the man that pulled the trigger who is presently on the run.

From available evidence, the suspects charged to the Chief Magistrate Court 11 in Enugu presided over by His Lordship, Ebere Udeze were; Collins Ogechukwe Uzor, a.k.a  Danwisiki, (28),   Ugochukwu Nnaji a.k.a Agbomorocco, (38),  Okwuosa Anthony a.k.a Sparrow, (29), Chekwube Enete (25), David Elvis Aja (23), Ugokwe Obiora  Johnpaul (22)and Ameobi Nnamchi.

They were arraigned on the 15th of March, 2013 on a two – count charge of consipracy  and  murder of CP Asadu by the prosecutor, Bar.  C.P. Nwachukwu, legal officer SARS, Enugu.  The defense counsel were ; B.I. Ugwuja and B.U.Odoh for the 7th accused, S.I. Ejiofor for the 4th accused and S.N. Egbo for the 3rd accused. The court ordered that the case file be forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, for advice within 21 days from the date of arraignment  after which the case was adjourned sine die.

Police sources said that when the suspects were taken to prison custody in Enugu to be remanded, the warders were openly grumbling by stating that most of them had been their old customers and that they gave them a lot of problems while in their custody.

However, sources disclosed that detectives have launched a big hunt for the leader of the gang called Mbala whom other arrested suspects said pulled the trigger when they accosted the Commissioner on the night of the incident. It was reliably gathered that the hunt for him led detectives to Onitsha and when they raided his house, there was a heavy exchange of gunfire between him and the police after which he narrowly escaped.    This suspect reputed to be the kingpin of the vicious gang was said to have connived with another member of the gang, Ugochukwu Nnaji, a.k.a. Agbomorrocco who was armed with an AK 47 rifle on the day the Commissioner was killed to snatch  another AK47 from the police aid to the slain Commissioner of Police.

Another suspected member of the gang that killed the police boss was said to have been gunned down during the battle that raged for hours in Onitsha, Anambra State, while police traced one other suspected member of the gang identified as Chidi to Aba, Abia State,  but he escaped also.  They succeeded in recovering his car, a Camry 2003 model.

Police sources said they have succeeded in recovering about fifteen cars of different makes owned by  members of the gang.

How the CP was killed:  Giving a graphic account of how police detectives carried out investigations into the murder of the late police boss, sources said after the incident happened at about 9pm, policemen from both the Criminal Investigations Department, CID, and the Special Anti-robbery team from Enugu State police headquarters, arrived the scene.

They discovered that  the Commissioner of police went to drop one of his guests with his wife's red Toyota Corrolla in the company of his orderly who sat in the front and an armed  police guard posted officially to his house from Abakpa station who sat at the back of the car.

The source continued: "As he was coming back, the hoodlums who were hovering around the area noticed him, followed his car until they got to a fairly solitary place, very close to his residence.  They blocked him with one bus and another black Mercedes benz 190, opened his door  in an attempt to either rob, kidnap or take the car.

Frightened criminals

Suddenly, they discovered that there was a policeman clutching an AK47 at the back of the car.  They  got scared and pulled the CP who was on the drivers seat out and started spraying the car with bullets.  The orderly and the armed policeman instead of replying them, dodged into the nearby gutter.  One of the frightened criminals quickly made for the policeman's gun while their leader identified simply as Mbala, pulled out his gun and shot the CP on the chest before they quickly zoomed  off from the scene.

One ugly incident nearly hampered our efforts during the investigation.  One of our principal informants who played major role in rounding up these suspects and recovering the AK47 stolen  from the police aid to the slain Cp escaped death by the whiskers.  He was shot by unknown gun men in daylight on the street in Enugu.

We later found out that it was masterminded by those suspects we earlier remanded in prison custody over the case.  We reliably gathered that after they were remanded in prison custody, they phoned their criminal colleagues outside and informed them about the role of the informant.

Their colleagues now went for the head of the informant and traced him to where he went to buy something in one street.  They shot him on the head and he was badly hit but we made sure he survived by quickly rushing him to a hospital where police authorities spent a lot of money in treating him.