…Recovers Two Automatic Pump Action Guns, Locally Guns, Cartridges
Juliana Francis
A Cameroonian, identified as Abdulahi Mohammed and two Nigerians have been arrested by the Delta State Police Command for the alleged kidnapping of several Nigerians.
The Police Operatives swooped on the 38-year-old foreigner following the arrest, 20-year-old Yakubu Ya’u, who police said was working with him.
According to the Police, Yau was the first suspect to be arrested, after which he was used as bait to catch his other partners. Aside from Mohammed and Yau, another suspect arrested and believed to be a member of the gang are, is 25-year-old Musa Yakubu.
The Delta State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Bright Edafe said: “The suspects are responsible for several kidnapping incidents in Orerokpe, Sapele, Warri, and environs. The victims have equally identified the suspects.
“The suspected kidnappers led the detectives of the Orerokpe Division to Ughwagba Community in Okpe Local Government Area, where two Automatic Pump Action Guns, one Live Cartridge, and one knife, which were hidden and buried in the bush were recovered. Preliminary investigations are still ongoing, and efforts to arrest other fleeing members of the gangs are on top gear.”
Edafe further explained that the breakthrough and arrest of the suspects started after the Command received Intelligence that some kidnapping incidents in the Warri axis were being carried out by one suspect named Yakubu Yau.
The image manager said: “The suspect resides in Kaduna, but always comes to Oha and Ughwagba Communities in Okpe LGA, to kidnap unsuspecting residents for ransom. On the 11th of May, at about 5:43 pm, following a combined effort from police operatives of the command and operatives from the Force Intelligence Unit, Abuja on the hideout of the suspect, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), in charge of Orerokpe, a Chief Superintendent of Police, Paul Oboware, immediately mobilised and led his patrol teams to his hideout in Warri, and after a painstaking search of the entire area, the said Yakubu Ya’u was arrested.
“Preliminary investigation and interrogation of the suspect led to the arrest of two other key gang members: one Musa Yakubu and one Abdulahi Mohammed from Cameroon on 12th of May 2024, at about 10:49 am.”
In another development, the Command on the 10th of May, at about 3:pm, while acting on a report made at Ozoro Police Division, police operatives arrested one Michael Udo, 20 and during the investigation, a search warrant was executed in his premises where a locally made Revolver Gun and two live Cartridges were recovered in his house.
Again, the DPO in charge of Obiaruku Police Division on the 14th of May, at about 3:am, received a report from a distress caller, that he was being bullied and forced into a cult initiation.
On the strength of the complaint, the DPO mobilized police operatives and arrested the suspect identified as Chinedu Okolo, 31 years old.
The DPO and his men said they recovered one locally made double barrel pistol and handset forcefully taken from a victim were recovered from them.
The Delta State Commissioner of Police, Abaniwonda Olufemi cautioned youths to shun all forms of criminality, cultism, and abuse of drugs.
He reassured the public that the police would do due diligence in the relentless pursuit of those who seek to disrupt the collective peace of the state.
