The Nigeria Police Force, Anambra State Command, has said that its operatives attached to Enugwu Ukwu Division raided a drug den in the Oko area of the state and arrested six suspects and recovered large quantity of hard substances.
The Public Relations Officer of the command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, who made this known in a statement issued in Awka, the state capital on Thursday said the operation was carried out by the Special Anti-Cultism Squad in the early hours of Wednesday.
Ikenga identified the arrested suspects as Joseph Chukwura, Emmanuel Chukwuemeka, Ifeanyi Agbanari, Igwe Chineche, Mmadufor Chinecherem, Chibueze Chukwumankpam, and Mmadubom Uchenna, all males aged between 24 and 35 years.
According to the police spokesperson, the raid is part of an intensified effort by the state command to root out criminal elements operating in Oko and its surrounding communities, especially in light of disturbing recent incidents.
The police operation followed a wave of public outrage over the brutal killing of a young man, believed to be a student of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, in Orumba North Local Government Area of the State, who was gunned down in broad daylight by suspected cultists on June 21, 2025.
The assailants, reportedly masked and armed, struck along one of the busy streets near the polytechnic campus, firing sporadically and causing panic among students and residents.
Also, a few days earlier, unidentified gunmen attacked Oko community near the Federal Polytechnic, killing at least four persons suspected to be students and injuring about seven others, and kidnapping two others.
While the motive behind the attack remains unclear, sources in the area suspect it to be cult-related.
The assailants reportedly opened fire without provocation, triggering chaos in the community.
Eyewitnesses and local residents confirmed that four people were killed instantly and around seven others injured, though the police gave a lower casualty figure of two.
The murder, which came barely weeks after another cult-related killing in nearby Ekwulobia, has heightened fears of a resurgence in campus cultism and street-level drug trafficking that has plagued the area in recent years.
Residents and student groups have since demanded urgent action from the police and Anambra State government, citing the increasingly unsafe environment in and around Oko, a town with a large student population.
Ikenga confirmed that the six suspects arrested in Wednesday’s drug raid are currently undergoing interrogation and may offer vital leads into the spate of violent incidents, including the recent murder.
“They are currently undergoing interrogations for necessary information, especially on the recent disturbing incident in Oko,” Ikenga said in the statement.
He noted that the Command is working to dismantle the wider criminal infrastructure believed to be operating in the town and its environs.
“Given the above, the Command believes that this initiative may help to nip in the bud the prevalence of criminal activities and expose more criminal networks in the area,” he said.