The Anambra State Police Command has launched an intensive manhunt for a group of suspected ransom kidnappers believed to be behind the abduction of one Hyginus Arinze Nnanyelugo and the disappearance of his vehicle since July 11, 2024.
The incident reportedly occurred at about 8:30 p.m. on that day, near Nnanyelugo’s residence at Onoja Oboli Street, opposite Modebe Secondary School, Odoakpu, Onitsha. He was said to be returning home when he was intercepted by armed men and abducted along with his golden-coloured Lexus RX 300 SUV bearing registration number FGG 963 HC.
According to Vanguard, confirming the development, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, told journalists by phone that law enforcement officers have intensified efforts to track down the assailants, rescue the victim, and recover the missing vehicle.
In an affidavit sworn by Mrs. MaryCynthia Ogechukwu Nnanyelugo, the wife of the missing man, she described her husband’s disappearance as a continuing nightmare that has plunged the entire Nnanyelugo family into deep distress. The affidavit, dated July 16, 2024, was signed at the Law Chambers of Sir Ben Chudi Izuegbu Esq., a Notary Public, and a copy was made available to the press.
According to the affidavit, Mrs. Nnanyelugo stated that “the heavily armed gunmen had on the aforementioned date and venue, abducted her husband with his vehicle,” adding that since then, both his whereabouts and that of the vehicle remain unknown.
She further narrated that on the evening of the abduction, her husband was driving home to No. 36 Sanniez Street, Odoakpu, Onitsha, when the suspects—believed to be operating in a tricycle—blocked his Lexus SUV at Onoja Oboli Street and forcibly took him and the vehicle to an undisclosed location.
Providing more details, Mrs. Nnanyelugo disclosed the vehicle’s engine number as 1MZ*4371507 and its chassis number as MCU10-0052334. She appealed to the country’s security agencies to intensify efforts to trace her missing husband and his vehicle, stressing that his absence has brought significant hardship to their family.
To support her claims, Mrs. Nnanyelugo also obtained a police extract from Fegge Police Division, Onitsha, around 1:20 p.m. on July 12, 2024, confirming that her husband and his vehicle had been declared missing. The document reiterated her account that the abductors had used a tricycle to intercept his path before fleeing with him and the SUV.
Additionally, she presented a receipt from Radio Sapientia dated July 23, 2024, which showed a payment of N35,000 for spot announcements to raise public awareness about her husband’s abduction. She said the announcement was to further emphasise that the abduction was real and that the family remains in anguish over the prolonged silence surrounding his fate.
Mrs. Nnanyelugo concluded her appeal by calling on relevant security authorities and the general public to come to her family’s aid in locating her husband, whether dead or alive. She lamented, “His abduction since that July 2024 had taken quite a long time,” and described the situation as increasingly unbearable for their family.
