By NWABUEZE OKONKWO

ONITSHA — An Onitsha High Court in Anambra State, presided over by Justice Chudi Nwankwo, yesterday, transferred the kidnap case preferred against three accused persons, Kelechi Okafor, Anthony Ifeanyi Okafor and Alexander Onyinanya, to the Administrative Judge of Onitsha High court for reassignment.

The transfer of the case came shortly after the third Prosecution Witness, PW3, Victor Edet displayed all the weapons allegedly used by the accused persons in the kidnap of Chairman of GUO Motors Limited, Chief Godwin Okeke.

Justice Nwankwo blamed all the defence counsel for raising unnecessary objec-tions at intervals, thereby applying delay tactics and frustrating the case.

Earlier, the PW3, Edet, a police officer who was part of the investigation team after the kidnap incident, had displayed the weapons which he said were recovered from the kidnappers’ armoury in a bush at Nando community in Anambra East Local Government Area of the state.

The weapons he displayed before the court included five AK-47 rifles, two General Purpose Machine Guns, one rocket launcher, five rocket propellers, three rockets, 5,830 AK-47 ammunition, 1,135 rounds of GPMG ammunition, 124 empty AK-47 magazines, one K2 rifle, two K2 empty magazines and one K2 riffle loaded with magazines.

After the display of the weapons, the prosecution counsel, Chris Ajugwe pleaded to tender the weapons to be admitted as evidence.

However, the defence counsel raised another objection; that the weapons ought not to have been displayed in court in the first instance, not to talk of admitting them as evidence.

Okeke told newsmen that since the defendants, their gang members and the Ofe Akwu-led gang were arrested and their weapons recovered, kidnappings and bank robberies had reduced.