From Monday Ochuke – Asaba

Delta State Police Command says, based on complaints of house-to-house armed robbery incidents received from residents in Bonsaac, Okwe and other areas in Asaba metropolis, the Delta State Commissioner CP Abaniwonda Olufemi deployed a new DPO to ‘B’ division Asaba with a clear mandate to identify, and arrest those responsible. Consequently, on Saturday 08/06/2024 the newly posted DPO CSP Edewor Akponegware received credible information from a concerned resident (name withheld) that he cited some suspicious-looking boys around Mango Tree Market and that they were armed. The DPO immediately led patrol teams of the Division to the scene and in the process the following suspects were arrested, John Dalami age 25yrs, Musa Suleiman age 25yrs, Abdullahi Jibril age 20yrs, Solomon Uchechukwu age 24yrs, Yusuf Joda age 21yrs, Egboka Chukwu Charles age 21yrs and Wisdom Sylvester age 21yrsm A searched was conducted at the scene and following items were recovered a bako bag containing a locally made cut to size gun, one live cartridge.

Police source says, the suspects said they had been involved in a series of house-to-house armed robbery operations at Issele-Asagba, Coka, and Ibusa. The case was then transferred to the special Anti-Kidnapping and Cybercrime squad for further investigation. Acting on the confessions of the suspects, they led the operatives to their hideout at the back of DDPA estate Asaba where six additional suspects were arrested and three locally made cut-to-size guns were recovered. Investigation is ongoing.

In another development, complaints were said to had been received from a father of one Nelson Eserada ‘at Abraka Pooice Division that his son Nelson Eserada was kidnapped and that the kidnappers were demanding a ransom of Fifty million naira in bitcoin.

The SUPREME learnt that, the suspect also sent a video of the supposed victim tied and being tortured. The DPO Abraka SP Fabian Ayameh swiftly moved into action, embarked on a technical intelligence-led investigation and on Monday 10/06/2024 one Jerry Lawrence ‘of Jeddo Community Warri was arrested in connection with the crime. Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect conspired with the said Nelson Eserada a 400 Level Student of Banking & Finance Department of the Delta State University Abraka and that the father had already paid the sum of Five Million and Two Hundred Thousand Naira ransom through a Bitcoin account belonging to the principal suspect Jerry Lawrence. The suspects are in custody and investigation is ongoing.

CP Abaniwonda was said to have urged parents to train and take care of their children.. He noted that children when not raised properly may grow up and become problems to their parents. He also urged youths to stay away from the get-rich-quick syndrome, noting that crime does not pay.

Spokesman, Bright Edafe confirmed the story.

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