The Anambra State Police Command has apprehended a 25-year-old man, Friday Anyikame, identified as a suspected member of a proscribed secessionist group, during an early-morning intelligence-led operation in Ihiala Local Government Area.
In a statement released on Friday, the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, said that operatives of the Rapid Response Squad, Awkuzu, arrested the suspect and recovered two pump-action firearms and 29 live cartridges.
Ikenga noted that the arrest followed intensified security surveillance and raid operations directed by the Commissioner of Police, CP Ikioye Orutugu, across the state.
The statement read in part: “The Anambra State Police Command has arrested a suspected member of a proscribed secessionist group following an intelligence-led operation on November 20, 2025.
“Police operatives attached to the Rapid Response Squad, Awkuzu, apprehended one Friday Nnamdi Anyikame, 25, in Ihiala and recovered two pump-action firearms and 29 live cartridges.
“During interrogation, the suspect confessed to being an active member of an armed group and revealed that he operates from a criminal camp located in Ogbaru LGA.”
Ikenga added that the CP, while commending the operatives for their swift and coordinated action, directed an immediate increase in security surveillance and targeted raid operations throughout the state.
He quoted the CP as assuring residents that the command was “closing in on other fleeing members of the gang and determined to dismantle their criminal network in Anambra.”
Residents were urged to remain vigilant and continue providing the police with timely, actionable intelligence to support ongoing operations.
Reported in October that the Anambra State Police Command had previously arrested another suspected member and alleged informant of a secessionist group, 62-year-old Bernard Odinchefu, who was said to be coordinating a major extortion network in parts of Ihiala LGA.
Odinchefu was reportedly responsible for collecting illegal levies from traders in Isseke and Orsumoghu communities — ₦10,000 and above monthly from each trader, and ₦100,000 and above from families organising burials.
The police stated that he remitted the proceeds to his commander in a terrorist camp before being apprehended by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad, Awkuzu.
