{"id":156374,"date":"2025-03-24T22:50:30","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T21:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/police-confirm-kidnap-of-imo-catholic-priest-launch-rescue-operation"},"modified":"2025-04-04T13:00:31","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T12:00:31","slug":"police-confirm-kidnap-of-imo-catholic-priest-launch-rescue-operation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/police-confirm-kidnap-of-imo-catholic-priest-launch-rescue-operation","title":{"rendered":"Police confirm kidnap of Imo Catholic priest, launch rescue operation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>The Imo State Police Command has launched an intensive operation to rescue Rev. Fr. John Ubaechu, who was reportedly kidnapped on Ejemekwuru Road in Oguta Local Government Area on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>The command\u2019s Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Henry Okoye, disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists in Owerri on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Okoye stated that \u201can intelligence-driven operation has been launched to apprehend the suspects.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He urged members of the public to assist in the investigation by providing any relevant information to the nearest police station or via the emergency numbers 08034773600 and 08158024755.<\/p>\n<p>The Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri confirmed Ubaechu\u2019s abduction in a statement signed by the Archdiocesan Chancellor and Secretary, Rev. Fr. Patrick Mbarah.<\/p>\n<p>The statement read in part: \u201cI am directed to inform you that one of our priests, Rev. Fr. John Ubaechu, was kidnapped on the evening of Sunday, 23rd March 2025. Rev. Fr. John Ubaechu is the Parish Priest of Holy Family Catholic Church, Izombe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe unfortunate incident occurred along Ejemekwuru Road in Oguta Local Government Area of Imo. He was abducted on his way to the Priests\u2019 Annual Retreat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mbarah urged the faithful and all people of goodwill to pray earnestly for the priest\u2019s swift and safe release.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. The Imo State Police Command has launched an intensive operation to rescue Rev. Fr. John Ubaechu, who was reportedly kidnapped on Ejemekwuru Road in Oguta Local Government Area on Sunday. The command\u2019s Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Henry Okoye, disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists in Owerri on Monday. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":156373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,30],"tags":[1018,254,165],"class_list":["post-156374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-imo","tag-nigeria","tag-police"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Police confirm kidnap of Imo Catholic priest, launch rescue operation - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Imo State Police Command has launched an intensive operation to rescue Rev. Fr. 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