By Jon Egie
A 4-man kidnapping gang that terrorised innocent citizens in Ughelli and environs has been squashed by the Police Special Squad led by ASP Julius Robinson leaving one of the suspects dead.
It would be recalled that the Delta state Commissioner of Police, CP Abaniwonda Olufemi had constituted and deployed a special operations team headed by ASP Julius Robinson to tackle the excesses of criminals including kidnappers and armed robbers operating in that axis of the State.
The reported spate of crime also necessitated the CP to reorganise the security architecture of Ughelli resulting in the deployment of a new DPO to the town.
The mandate of the squad was to flush out kidnappers in the area, a task which so far has been rated successful following performance of the team in containing, apprehending and wasting criminal elements in the area.
On May 17, the criminals kidnapped a man at his residence in Edjekota-Ogor and later killed the victim. When reports of the crime came out, the Julius Robinson squad sprang into action and following credible intels related to the crime, a diligent investigation located and caused a crackdown on the gang responsible for the crime.
On Monday, July 1st, one the members of the gang identified as Ismaila Umaru, 28, male, of Kekura village in Awe LGA of Nasarawa State who is resident in Oghara Town, Delta State was arrested in connection with the crime.
On Thursday, July 4, at about 2030hrs the suspect led operatives to the arrest of two other members of the gang namely: Chede Mohammed ‘m’ 18yrs a native of Nasarawa State but resident of Agwara in Ughelli South LGA of Delta State and Mohammadu Sani ‘m’ 26yrs a native of Banbiru area of Abuja but resident at Upper Agbarho Area of Ughelli Town.
” Acting on their confession at about 0530hrs of Friday, July 5, the operatives stormed the bush by Oviri-ogor where the operatives encountered an attack from other members of the gang during which, one of the suspects hiding in the bush sustained serious gunshot injuries and was taken to the hospital where he died while receiving treatment.
One AK 49 rifle was recovered in the hideout and investigation is ongoing.” A statement issued by the Command’s PPRO, SP Edafe Bright said.