A routine stop-and-search operation in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State has once again demonstrated why the practice remains an important tool in modern policing.
On August 28, 2026, at about 11:15 a.m., operatives of the Forward Operating Base (FOB), conducting stop-and-search duties at the Isuofia Nipping Point in Aguata, intercepted two vehicles, a Toyota Sienna and a Toyota RAV4 SUV carrying nine occupants.
What followed provided a powerful answer to those who sometimes question the relevance of stop-and-search operations.
Police operatives recovered three AK-47 rifles, three rounds of live 7.62mm ammunition, and a pump-action rifle loaded with two live cartridges. They also recovered 12 mobile phones, a native pot containing charms, two AVG identification cards, and two cans of pepper spray.
Nine suspects were arrested. Six of them reportedly claimed to be vigilantes from Imo State, while two others, a male and a female allegedly identified themselves as personnel of the Nigerian Army attached to Bonny Island, Lagos. Another female suspect was also arrested.
The development immediately raises questions that investigators are now working to answer: Why were these individuals travelling together with such a quantity of firearms? What was the purpose of the weapons? And what other activities may they be connected to?
Those questions are now the subject of an ongoing investigation by the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Awka.
But beyond the arrests and weapons recovered, the operation has reignited an important conversation about stop-and-search policing.
For years, the practice has attracted criticism, particularly when conducted without professionalism, proper justification, or respect for citizens’ rights. Such concerns should not be dismissed. A professional police force must ensure that stop-and-search operations are conducted lawfully, respectfully, and based on reasonable security considerations.
However, abolishing the practice altogether would be a mistake.
The Aguata operation is a reminder of why.
A firearm does not announce itself before entering a community. Criminals do not always travel with labels identifying them as criminals. Weapons can be concealed in vehicles, bags, and other seemingly ordinary means of transportation.
Sometimes, the difference between a dangerous weapon reaching its intended destination and being taken off the streets is simply an alert police officer deciding to stop a vehicle and look inside.
That is exactly what happened in Aguata.
The importance of stop-and-search therefore lies not in the indiscriminate harassment of citizens, but in its ability to create strategic points of interception where suspicious movements, illegal weapons, and criminal activities can be detected before they result in violence.
Indeed, criminals have every reason to dislike effective stop-and-search operations because the practice disrupts mobility, the very advantage that many criminal networks depend upon.
It is therefore important not to confuse the abuse of stop-and-search with the legitimate use of stop-and-search as a policing tool.
The answer to poor policing is better policing, not the abolition of useful policing tools.
When properly deployed, stop-and-search can support intelligence-led policing, disrupt the movement of illegal firearms, intercept wanted persons, uncover stolen property, and prevent criminal plans from reaching their final destination.
The Aguata case provides a compelling example.
More significantly, preliminary investigations have revealed that one of the recovered AK-47 rifles was allegedly snatched from Inspector Ibikunle Remilekun, who was reportedly killed in Nnewi North Local Government Area on October 3, 2024.
A weapon that may have remained in circulation for almost two years has now been recovered, not because it voluntarily surfaced, but because police officers stopped vehicles, conducted a search, and remained sufficiently vigilant to recognise the significance of what they found.
This is where the broader policing philosophy of Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Rilwan Disu, becomes relevant.
Modern policing should not be a choice between community trust and proactive enforcement. It should combine both.
The police must respect citizens while remaining sufficiently assertive to prevent criminals from exploiting the same freedoms that law-abiding Nigerians enjoy.
The goal should therefore be professional stop-and-search, not indiscriminate stop-and-search; intelligence-led intervention, not harassment; prevention, not provocation.
The nine suspects remain in police custody, alongside the two vehicles and recovered exhibits, as investigators work to establish their identities, affiliations, and possible links to other criminal activities.
For the officers at the Isuofia checkpoint, however, the significance of the operation is already clear.
Stop-and-search paid off.
Three AK-47 rifles that could potentially have been used to take innocent lives are now in police custody. A pump-action rifle and live ammunition have been taken off the streets. And an AK-47 allegedly linked to the killing of a police officer has been recovered.
That is not an argument for indiscriminate policing.
It is an argument for intelligent, lawful, and professional policing, and for retaining every legitimate tool capable of preventing criminals from succeeding.
Because sometimes, the most important arrest is the one made before the crime happens.
Akindele Adegebo
ANIPR, ACIPM
Writes from Lagos State.
