The Delta State Police Command, on Tuesday, paraded Suleiman Ibrahim and Yusuf Hamisu, suspected killers of Mr. Valentine Mbalu, Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of C Police Division, Asaba, and 46 other suspected criminals.
Delta State Police Commissioner, CP Ibrahim Zanna, who paraded the suspects at the Command Headquarters in Asaba, explained that the criminals included 7 suspected kidnappers, 11 robbery suspects, 11 murder suspects and 16 suspected cultists.
Items recovered from the suspected criminals by detectives attached to the state Police Command include 10 live cartridges, 13 expended cartridges, two rifles, including a pump action; 147 rounds of ammunition, vehicles and one motorcycle.
29 year old Ibrahim (alias Carlos), an indigene of Mayolope in Adamawa State, and Hamisu, 32, an indigene of Benin City, are suspected to be responsible for the kidnap and eventual murder of Mr. Mbalu on his way to Agbor to see his family.
The Police Commissioner added that the command is making efforts to arrest the remaining members of the kidnap gang and recover Mr. Mbalu’s corpse.
According to the Police Commissioner, the two men admitted being part of five-man kidnap gang terrorizing Edo, Kogi, Delta, Enugu and Anambra states.
“The suspects have also unveiled the identities of the gang leader and other gang members.
On further interrogation, the suspects confessed to the kidnap of two civil servants attached to Delta State Government House, the murder of one Police officer and one woman along Benin/Lagos by-pass in the month of February,” the Police Commissioner said.
Among the kidnap and armed robbery suspects paraded were Gift Ogoni, a 28-year old indigene of Ughelli, who was responsible for the death of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Emmanuel German, and robbery of one Panama Ovuodeyorem of Ughelli.
Narrating how the crime was committed, the Police Commissioner said Ogoni phoned Ovuodeyorem, claiming he had a parcel of land for sale.
Ovuodeyorem went to meet Ogoni, who ordered him to park his vehicle in a desolate part of where they met.
“While the victim was on his way towards the lonely road, he forced the vehicle into a filling station and raised an alarm, which attracted a police patrol team that arrested the suspect and recovered one locally made cut-to-size gun, five live cartridges and two ropes from him.
“On interrogation, the suspect confessed to the crime, adding that he and one Kenneth robbed the complainant of N100,000 and his two phones on November 30, 2016, using the same method,” narrated the Police Commissioner.
The suspect was also said to have admitted responsibility for the disappearance and subsequent murder of Mr. Emmanuel German.
“He confessed that his five-man kidnap gang called DSP Emmanuel German on the phone and introduced themselves as building material dealers at Ughelli and ready to supply him building materials on credit.
Based on this phone call, the said DSP went and met with the suppliers at Afeisere Junction between Agbara and Ughelli. On getting to Afeisere Junction, the suspects ordered the DSP into a Jetta car and zoomed off to Agbarho, where he was shot in his head and buried in a shallow grave,” revealed the Police boss.
He assured that men of his command will stop at nothing to locate where Mr. German was buried and recover his corpse.
He also disclosed that one Oputu Benjamin Evidence; of 9 Otirikpen Street, Warri, was responsible for the attempt to kidnap Duru Precious Ada, a 20-year old resident of Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.
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