Vancouver police have announced the arrest of a young man the department considered one of its top six most-dangerous Lower Mainland gang members.
Ekene Anigbo, 22, was arrested Thursday (Oct. 7), according to the VPD.
Anigbo was wanted B.C.-wide for multiple outstanding arrest warrants for breaching his probation and assault.
VPD investigators from the force's Organized Crime Section, working under Taskforce Threshold, located and arrested Anigbo in Richmond.
Charges were subsequently approved against Anigbo.
“At the time of his arrest, Anigbo had a rifle, a handgun, and ammunition in his possession,” said Constable Tania Visintin of the VPD in a media release. “Today, he has been was charged with four new firearms offences related to these weapons and he remains in jail pending his next court date.”
In May, the VPD listed Anigbo as one of its "Dangerous Six," a list of men connected with gang activity in the region who were not necessarily "wanted" at the time, but whom police felt could soon be perpetrators of crimes or targeted in a shooting. With gang conflict on an uptick at the time, the VPD announced they were upping its focus on these six men and others who were known participants in gang activity.
“Every day these same gangsters are going to our grocery stores, they’re going to our restaurants, they’re going to our public spaces and they pose a significant threat and risk to the public and that’s why we’ve taken these extraordinary measures,” said Deputy Chief Constable Howard Chow at the time.
It was at that same time the VPD announced a new task force, called Taskforce Threshold, to tackle the current gang situation. “The purpose of the task force is to bring together resources and expertise from the VPD’s investigation and operations divisions for an immediate response to gang violence,” explained Deputy Chief Constable Fiona Wilson.
With files from Brendan Kergin
