According to him, the gang had earlier snatched an AK47 rifle from a police officer and also allegedly kidnapped and murdered one Godspower Emmanuel after collecting N400,000 as ransom.
He added that one AK47 rifle, 18 eighteen rounds of 7.6MM ammunition, one double barrel locally made gun and a GLK Benz suspected to be stolen were recovered from the kidnappers at the end of the gun battle.
He stated also that two bottles of codeine and two wraps of weeds suspected to be Indian hemp were also recovered from them.
The statement reads:
“Following reports of kidnapping and armed robbery operations in Ughelli, Warri and environs, the Deputy Commissioner of Police operations, DCP Johnson Adenola mandated all divisional police officers in the Command to gather intelligence and ensure that this ugly trend is nipped in the bud.
“In compliance with this directive, on 30/04/2023 at about 1300hrs, acting on information received via intelligence gathered on an armed robbery gang that snatched one AK47 rifle from a police officer and also allegedly kidnapped and murdered one Godspower Emmanuel ‘m’ after collecting four hundred thousand naira (#400,000) ransom were sited at an hotel in Agbarho, the DPO Ovwian Aladja division, CSP Aliyu Shaba mobilized and led detectives to the area in search of them.
“While the search was ongoing, the suspects sighted the policemen from hiding and opened fire, which the police equally responded. During the gun duel, one Felix A.K.A “OBJ” was shot and later confirmed dead at the hospital.
“While three other suspects namely Stephen ‘m’ 19yrs old, Godstime ‘m’ 28yrs old, and Prince ‘m’ 28yrs old, were arrested with various degrees of bullet injuries. One AK 47 rifle with breech no. 19617, eighteen (18) rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, one English double barrel gun, eleven (11) Android phones, two button phones, one long knife, one suspected stolen white coloured GLK Mercedes Benz with, two bottles of codeine, two wraps of weed suspected to be Indian hemp were recovered. The investigation is ongoing.”
