The Commissioner of Police in Imo, Mr Taiwo Lakanu, said the command and the Nigeria Prisons Service had intensified efforts to re-arrest Henry Chibuzor aka “Vampire”, a notorious gang leader and kidnapping kingpin.
Lakanu disclosed this in a statement issued in Owerri on Thursday by the command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Andrew Anwerem .
Chibuzor escaped from an Owerri High Court on Friday, after his gang stormed the premises to free him and two others in a commando–style operation.
Chibuzor was the first to be arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) in 2015 after about five years of unsuccessful manhunt and has been remanded in prison custody since the case was charged to court.
Lakanu confirmed that police were working seriously with other security agencies to arrest the fugitive.
He further said that plans were ongoing to arrest those suspected to have aided his escape.
He said that the command will, through its investigation, determine if there was internal sabotage from any quarter leading to his escape
He urged members of the public to disregard reports that the police had raided prisons, adding that it was an unfounded and unverified report.
It would be recalled that the 28-year old notorious armed robber and kidnapper, Henry Chibueze popularly known as “Vampire” was arrested the DSS last year.
Luck had ran out of Vampire when he was trying to kidnap a tribunal Judges lodged at Disney Hotels, along Onitsha – Owerri Road.
Security Operatives, acting a tip-off swooped on him but he managed to escape with bullet wounds which he had gone to treat in the house of his elder brother.
It was in the house he was arrested alongside the brother’s wife and her mother.
Vampire told the Imo State Governor, when he was paraded before newsmen, that he operated in many parts of Nigeria, Cotonou (Republic of Benin) and Abijan (Ivory coast), where his family lives.
According to him, his wife, who hails from Cameroun believes he is a clothes dealer. He confessed to many high profile kidnapping and most cases, assassination of the victims, if they prove “stubborn”.
He confessed to the killings of his girlfriend and her entire family in Lagos.
Part of the exhibits found on him then included large sum of Ivorian currency, some AK 47 rifles and pistols.
He was arrested alongside Hakeem Bello from Kwara state, Alexander Ohigide his “native doctor” and treasurer were equally arrested.