The Imo State Police Command on Thursday said kidnappers and armed robbers were not overrunning the state despite the incidents of killings and abductions that had occurred in the state of recent.

Gunmen on Christmas eve killed two policemen and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Soludo Akwaeke, and made away with his car and the money he withdrew from an Automated Teller Machine at Orlu Town.

On December 27, gunmen also kidnapped the Auxillary Bishop of Owerri Catholic Archdiocese, Moses Chikwe, and his driver, Ndubuisi Robert, at the World Bank area of the state.

Kidnappers also abducted a man at the ever-busy Wetheral Road in Owerri on Tuesday afternoon and zoomed off with him to Aba Road, shooting sporadically in the air.

Despite these incidents and many more, the state police command said the police in the state had not been overwhelmed by criminals.

The spokesperson for the police in the state, Orlando Ikeokwu, in a telephone conversation with The PUNCH in Owerri on Thursday, assured that the command was closing in on the criminals.

He disclosed that the state Commissioner of Police, Issac Akinmoyede, had activated the tactical units of the command and they were working effortlessly to free the victims and arrest the gunmen.

Ikeokwu said, “That the state recorded a few incidents of kidnapings and killings do not mean that the hoodlums are having the upper hand. It does not in any way mean that they have overwhelmed us.

“You should know that this is a game of intelligence and I can tell you that we are on top of the situation and we are working to achieve results. We have been able to identify the gang and we are closing in on them.”

“We are also ready to police the state on New Year’s Day. People are free to move about to enjoy their New Year holiday. The command’s authority had put everything in place to ensure a hitch-free celebration,” the PPRO added.