Operatives attached to Ebrumede Police station, Delta State Police Command on Friday, killed a suspected kidnapper and rescued a victim.
This was made known at a press briefing by Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Bright Edafe on Tuesday.
According to Edafe, the incident happened during a stop-and-search duty at a location not far away from the police station where an unidentified occupant in a Lexuz Saloon escaped from the police.
The police, in turn, chased after them; in an attempt to escape from the police chase, they started shooting at the police.
In retaliation, one of the suspects was hit by a bullet from the police, and during a search of the vehicle, a kidnapped victim was rescued.
Edafe said that the victim stated that on the same date along Jakpa road, Effurun, Uvwie LGA, the suspected kidnappers hit his vehicle with a tricycle, and in an attempt to confront them, they brought out the gun and forced him into his own vehicle. An effort is on to arrest the fleeing suspects.
In another development, the command spokesperson said that on Friday, 28 July 2023, acting on credible intelligence gathered on a criminal gang, the DPO Owvian Aladja Division led a surveillance team to the scrap yard in Ekpan and arrested one Ojokor Jeffrey, 22yrs of Ughelli who is the gang leader of the criminal gang terrorizing Warri–Sapelle Road.
Further interrogation of the suspect led to the arrest of his gang members namely, Musa Amadu, 27yrs, Abu Mohammed, 30yrs, Mohammed Saidu, 23yrs, Anas Idris, 20yrs, Abubakra Muktar, 23yrs and Kamilu Alasa, 21yrs.
Two locally made double barrel guns and eleven live cartridges were recovered from them.
On Sunday, 30 July 2023, the Command received a distress call from Ondo State that it is suspected that the vehicle was already in Delta State, armed with relevant information, the CP immediately detailed the CP-Decoy squad to embark on an intelligence-led investigation.
The team embarked on a technical intelligence-led investigation, trailed the car to Patani, and the DPO Patani was contacted who in turn alerted the police patrol team stationed on the Patani expressway.
The vehicle was sighted and flagged down by the policemen. The car with reg no. OD 231 A10 was recovered and two suspects namely, Tochukwu Nnamani, 22yrs from Rivers State, and Chukwuma Unue, 38yrs from Rivers State were arrested.
The suspects claimed that the vehicle was handed to them by one Efe in Ughelli to deliver to one Chief Ojukwu at Mbaima town in River State.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the vehicle belong to Ondo State Government but was attached to the Ministry of Lands and Infrastructure and the vehicle was removed from where parked at Owo town in Ondo state.
Following the deployment of a new DPO to Ekpan division with a firm directive from the CP Delta State, CP Wale Abass to flush out criminals in Ekpan and its environs, the DPO has stakeholders meetings with residents where he warned that crime will not be tolerated in the Area and advised those in possession of a firearm to respects themselves and surrender their weapons. Some Ekpan residents yielded to this advice and dropped their arms at a conspicuous place in the Community, and the DPO alerted. The DPO swiftly mobilized his men and recovered the various arms such as G-3 Rifle, One SMG Rifle, Four English Pump Action Guns, Two Locally Made Guns, and Two Locally Fabricated Pistols.
Edafe said that effort is still on to sanitize the Ekpan community and environs completely.
