A combined team of anti-cult squad of the Nigeria Police, and vigilante group in Abavo community in Delta State in the early hours of Tuesday, arrested six robbery and kidnap suspects in Abavo and Obi Anyima communities during their routine patrol.
It was gathered that the security operatives also uncovered a makeshift tent in Obi Anyima community where kidnappers kept their victims, including eight locally-made guns with charms.
The state Commissioner of Police, Mustafa Muhammed, who confirmed the arrest of the suspects to DAILY POST in Asaba, gave their names as Johnson Chukwudi, Ambrose Okweu Chiedu Akeseh, Austin Afiokun, William Benson, and Emeka Cheidu, adding the suspects upon interrogation confessed to committing many crimes, including the kidnap of some prominent Deltans, and their release after payment of ransom.
The Police boss said “the anti-cult squad in Abavo community in collaboration with vigilante group in the area were on routine patrol when they acted on intelligence gathering to swoop on the suspects’ hideout where they were arrested while eating inside the forest of Abavo community. Thereafter, the suspects took the security operatives to Obi Anyima community where they uncovered a makeshift tent inside with eight locally-made guns. The suspects will be charged to court upon completion of investigation.”
It was further gathered that five of the suspects were linked to series of robbery operations carried out within towns and villages along Warri-Agbor road. In one of their operations, they allegedly broke into family residence of an Assistant Commissioner of Police (Acha Jonthan), and made away with valuables including sensitive materials which the police later recovered in a heap of sand along the road side of Abavo community
Speaking further, the police commissioner, Muhammad, said, “the police are seriously haunting for one Emmanuel Melekwe, a 32-year-old, in Warri town who the suspects confessed to have been their master. Meleke has been responsible for the series of armed robbery operations carried out in the recent times in Abavo and its environs, including that of a prominent Oyoko businessman popularly called Dakota, who was ambushed by the gate of his house, and led inside at gunpoint to ransack every part of the house. They carted away unspecified amount of money including other valuables. There is ongoing investigation.”
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