Anambra state governor, Willie Obiano has expressed his willingness to do all it takes to clampdown on criminals in the state including the use of drones and other hi-tech surveillance equipment.
The governor also declared the resolve of his administration to sustain the campaign against kidnappers, armed robbers and other types of organised crime in the state until they were either driven out or clamped in jail after prosecution.
He made this known at the final test-running of the drones at the Governor’s Lodge, Awka, before their deployment to trouble-spots across the state, according to reports from ThisDay.
According to him, “We are moving into the next phase of our campaign against criminals in Anambra State. Our efforts shall be more intensely focused on crime detection and prevention going forward.
That is the reason why we are deploying hi-tech surveillance equipment to spy on the activities of crime suspects and forestall possibilities of violent crime,” Governor Obiano explained, pointing out that the new phase requires a lot of creativity.
“Modern crime-fighting requires a lot of creativity. Criminals are extremely inventive and we have to be a step ahead of them to outsmart them. We are relying heavily on technology to give us their coordinates and the general direction of their plans,” he further explained. The governor who by the overwhelming support he received from the indigenes of the state, resident in Abuja and the surrounding areas who collectively pooled almost N100m to support his crime-bursting campaign, vowed to sustain the pressure on criminal elements in the state until they had been reduced to a police-able proportion.
He maintained that with the financial donations and goodwill he had received from Ndi Anambra, he would re-invigorate Operation Kpochapu with a new technological edge that would boost its capacity to detect and prevent crime in the state. Obiano who has singled out the challenge of insecurity as a major focus of his administration and evolved a number of highly effective strategies that have put criminals on the run in Anambra State.
He has to his credit the swift and coordinated reaction that led to the arrest of Okechukwu Nnaegbo, a kidnap kingpin, at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in a South African bound aircraft. He recalled that the recent rescue of a kidnap victim who was tracked all the way to Orlu in Imo State was a clear demonstration of the efficacy of technology in crime fighting. Said he, “As soon as we got wind of the kidnap, we moved in and activated the devices. We monitored their movement to their hideout in Orlu, Imo State and waited until all the suspects were fully in before we picked them up.”