Delta Police, on November 30, 2021, at approximately 10:00 p.m., acted on information received from a motorcyclist that a lady (name withheld), age 63, of Ughelli town, was seen with two boys armed with machetes in an isolated location along the Irri-Aviara community road and suspected them to be kidnappers.
SP Paul Oboware, DPO Oleh Division, quickly organized and led police patrol squads in a joint effort to cordon off the surrounding bushes. When the hoodlums saw the cops, they abandoned the victim and fled into the jungle.
The victim was abducted on November 26, 2021, at about 6:30 p.m., on her way home on Olori Road in Ughelli, according to the investigation. The Delta State Command Commissioner of Police, CP Ari Muhammed Ali, has directed the DPO to ensure that these thugs are arrested.
In accordance with the CP’s direction, the DPO Oleh division launched an intelligence-led inquiry. Police officers and vigilantes were carefully stationed to gather important information in order to ensure that these criminals are apprehended and prosecuted.
DSP Bright Edafe, the spokesman for the Police Command, said the operation paid off because on December 02, 2021, at about 9:43 p.m., he received another distressed call from the vigilante deployed around Irri roundabout in Oleh, that some hoodlums were spotted near the roundabout and operating in a white Toyota Hilux with no registration number.
He went on to say that during an effort to abduct one individual (name withheld) who had recently returned from Europe, a quarrel arose among them, prompting locals in the neighborhood who were suspicious to notify the vigilante.
The valiant DPO Oleh once again led a combined team of police operatives/vigilantes to the location in a meticulously organized operation that resulted in the arrest of one of the suspects, a man named Davidson Odigho, aged 26 years of Irri village in Oleh, while other members of the gang fled in the white Hilux.
“Upon interrogation, the suspect admitted to being a member of the group that abducted the 63-year-old woman on November 30, 2021, and abandoned her when they saw the police were closing in on them,” he added.
The suspect led police to his home, where they discovered one Ak 47 rifle, nineteen (19) rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition, one magazine, one pump action gun, and twenty-six (26) live cartridges hidden in a sack bag and buried in the complex. The manhunt for the gang’s fleeing members is still continuing.
While applauding the efforts of all stakeholders in the battle against crime and criminality, the CP also admonishes Deltans to be law-abiding and to always provide genuine information to the police in order to make Delta a safer place.
