Anambra agency rescues missing 17-year-old boy in Onitsha

Officials of the Operation Clean and Healthy Anambra (OCHA brigade), have found a 17-year-old missing boy, Sunday Aniwachukwu, in the bridge area of Onitsha, the commercial city of the state.

The Onitsha Unit Coordinator of OCHA brigade, Mr Ejike Odife, who disclosed this to journalists shortly after handing over the boy to the family at his office in Onitsha, on Friday, said the boy was seen on Tuesday April 8th, 2025 at the Onitsha bridge head en-routing to Delta State barefooted.

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“The boy was found wandering around the bridge head, barefoot, on April 8 at about 4-5pm on Tuesday,” he said.

According to Odife, the boy was taken into custody for safety because of his abnormal display, noting that the parents were contacted through the boy’s phone.

The coordinator, while commending the Managing Director of OCHA brigade, Comrade Celestine Anere, for his continued training and re-training of men/women of the Brigade on intelligence gathering, urged parents to prioritise monitoring the day-to-day activities of their children.

In her appreciation speech, the grandmother of the boy, Mrs Monica Aniwachukwu, said the boy escaped from where his currently receiving mental challenge treatment at St. Michael Spiritual Church, Ikerefi-Igbanoacha community in Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State.

According to her, the mental illness started in November 2024, in Ondo State, where the boy resided with his biological parents.

Mrs Aniwachukwu thanked the Brigade for rescuing her grandchild.

Meanwhile, the Director of Anambra State Anti-Touting Squad (SASA), Mr Solomon Onwuemene, has reiterated that the squad under his watch will continue to work in synergy with the Nigerian Police Force, the Military and other security agencies to keep Onitsha and its environs free of crime.

Onwuemene stated this while briefing journalists at his office in Onitsha, on Thursday, shortly after a media tour across the commercial city of the state to assess the performances of the squad since it establishment in 2022 by Governor Charles Soludo.

He attributed the huge success the squad have recorded so far in the ongoing war against touting, pick-pocketing, once chance, illegal tax collection, child-trafficking, armed robbery and other criminal activities to the collaborative effort of other security agencies, particularly the Police and Army.

He said that what Governor Soludo has done is a clear manifestation that he has the interests of Ndi Anambra at heart and listens to the yearnings of the citizenry.

He explained that the activities of touts have caused untold hardship to the people of the state, as well as those who come to Anambra for business transactions especially in Onitsha, Awka and Nnewi.

He noted that with the establishment of SASA, touting and other type of criminalities has become a thing of the past in Anambra State.

The SASA boss appealed to citizens both at home and in the diaspora to support the current administration in the state for it to succeed for a greater Anambra that will be secure, liveable and prosperous.

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