Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba
Delta State Police Command yesterday said it killed six armed robbery and kidnapping suspects at the weekend when a crack team of the command quick response squad stormed the criminals’ hideout in Issele-Uku/Umunede axis in Aniocha Local Government Area of the state.
The state police spokesman, DSP Bright Edafe, who confirmed the two incidents in Asaba yesterday, said the state Commissioner of Police, Ari Muhammed Ali, has also vowed to continue to pile the pressure on criminals operating in the state until crimes are reduced to the barest minimum.
Edafe said Ali dispatched the joint tactical crack team to the criminals’ hideout at 2.35p.m. last Saturday, “acting on a tipoff.”
In the ensuing gun duel, “the joint team killed six of the criminals,” while others fled into the bush ostensibly with gunshot injuries, Edafe said.
He said: “One AK-47 rifle, one pump-action gun, and one AK-47 magazine with 25 live ammunition were recovered during the operation.
Also, last Saturday, at about 9.39p.m., a team from the Delta State Police Command, “while on stop-and-search duty on the Patani-Bayelsa portion of the East-West Road, intercepted a Toyota Sienna van with registration number: LSR 813 XL’, and arrested the four male occupants of the vehicle after discovering a “locally made Barretta pistol” in the vehicle.
He gave the names of the four suspects taken into police custody as Efe Oyenikoro, Felix George, Emmanuel Job and Joan Yapiteghe.
Meanwhile, the state police boss, Ali, has charged all Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) in the state to stem the growing insecurity in the state by taking the battle to the unrepentant criminals.
According to the PPRO, “He also urged members of the public to volunteer useful information that will assist the police in discharging their duties through intelligence gathering in the face of the growing insecurity across the country.”
Three police divisional headquarters in the Delta North district of the state have been attacked and burnt down by unidentified armed men, leading to death of several officers, including the DPO of Nsukwa Police Station in Aniocha South Local Government Area of the state last month.
