Two persons were shot dead yesterday by rampaging youths in Okposi, near Omoku in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, in a political-related operation.
This is even as the state police command has arrested 92 suspected cultists and four alleged robbers.
The victims, whose identities could not be ascertained as at Press time, were shot dead, following the burning of the house of an aide to a commissioner in the state.
One of the arsonists, who was later apprehended in the mayhem, confessed that he took the action because the commissioner’s aide refused to include his name in the Subsidy and Re-Investment Programme (SURE-P) list.
The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ahmad Muhammad, a Deputy Superintendent, confirmed the incident. He said the crisis was a spill-over of the violence that erupted on Monday.
Muhammad stated that normalcy has been restored in the area, following the deployment of six troopers.
Meanwhile, police yesterday, paraded four suspected armed robbers and 92 cultists at the Swift Operation Squad (SOS) premises in Port Harcourt. They were arrested at different locations.
According to the PPRO, who briefed journalists, the four robbery suspects were nabbed on Monday at Akpajo police-check point at about 4: 30am while returning to Port Harcourt from a robbery operation in Akwa Ibom State.
He said that items recovered from them were a Sienna bus, marked RH 339 CH, N1.6 million cash, three locally-made pistols, one revolver, ammunition, 17 phones and an international passport.
Similarly, items recovered from the 92 suspected cultists include assorted firearms and ammunition, cutlasses, charms and other lethal weapons.
The command, however, decried the upsurge of cultism in the state, assuring that it would sustain its “belligerent and ruthless” onslaught on the suspects and their patrons.
“Their nefarious and deadly activities, which, sometimes, were attributed to politics, have, no doubt, constituted a nuisance to the general public and have the capacity to truncate the electoral process,” he said.
Aderanti reads riot act to criminals
• Thanks bank for vehicle donation
By CHRISTOPHER OJI
Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Kayode Aderanti, has promised criminals, especially armed robbers and kidnappers, hell.
He warned the hoodlums to repent or leave the state to avert the wrath of the police.
Aderanti, who read the riot act yesterday in his office in Ikeja during the presentation of a new Hilux van to the command by Fidelity Bank Plc, said the era of committing crimes and going scot free was gone in Lagos.
“He said the police have become more proactive. “We have now developed to the level of nipping crimes in the bud. We stop armed robbers from carrying out operations and we do same to kidnappers”
Aderanti, who thanked the bank’s management for the donation, said the police would use the vehicle judiciously. “We will not disappoint the public in the area of response to distress calls. The van will help a great deal in the area of our constitutional duties of combating crimes and criminality.”
He challenged other corporate organizations and private individuals to emulate the good gesture of the bank. “Fighting crime is not only when one carries a gun, but any little assistance even giving information on criminals, will go a long way in helping in the war against crimes”
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the bank. Nnamdi Okonkwo, who presented the vehicle to Aderanti, said as part of its commitment in the fight against crimes and in line with its Corporate Social Responsibility, Fidelity Bank made the gesture to the police command.
He said the bank will continue to assist the police in their war against crimes. Mr Okonkwo said if the state is peaceful, the economy will flourish, but when a society is not safe, investors would be scared to come and those who had already invested, would be closing shops.
Police smash four-man deadly gang in Warri
By EMMANUEL OGOIBE
A notorious four-man gang of robbers has been smashed by the police in Delta state. The gang, according to investigation, had allegedly terrorized Ebrumede and environs in Uvwie Local Government Area before nemesis caught up with them.
Crime Watch Today gathered that one of the gang members, Bodor, is a graduate of Banking and Finance from the state Polytechnic, Oghara. Sources revealed that the gang had stormed the home of their victim, one Mr. Awaritefe, on March 20, 2015 at about 9.30pm and stole valuables worth thousands of Naira including cash and his Toyota Highlander Sport Utility Van (SUV) marked KWL 675 KA
Apart from Bodor, other members of the gang are Efe, Idogho and Onoriode.
Speaking on the arrest, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), CSP Ukoh Nkereyuerm, said the hoodlums on several occasions have been terrorizing the area, but was delighted that they have been arrested.
He said on March 20, his men were on a stop and search patrol when they flagged down the fleeing robbers, but they refused to stop.
“Consequently, my men forced them to stop. The four suspects were inside the vehicle. After a search, two toy guns, battle axe, 13 assorted phones, and several others were recovered inside the vehicle,” he said.
According to him, the robbers took the police to the victim’s house within Okuokoko area where they were identified.
Narrating her ordeal, Mrs. Awaritefe, who expressed shock over the incident, said amid tears that one of the robbers, a member of her church, attempted to rape her, but for the timely intervention of neighbours and the police.
Her husband said the bandits came in through the ceiling of their house, adding that this was the third time they came to rob, noting they ate, drank all the beer in the refrigerator and demanded for N2 million before they went away with the car key.
Bodor said the gang wanted to use the vehicle for matriculation at Ozoro Polytechnic, adding, that the robbery was his first operation.
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