The Rivers State Police Command has said its men have arrested a fake Inspector who leads an armed robbery gang and neutralised four fleeing suspects involved in the January 2024 murder of a Community Development Committee Chairman of Mgboshimini in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state.
The police said the fake Inspector identified as Fred Monday armed with an AK-47 rifle was arrested by men of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit who responded to a report of a criminal operation at about 11:45 pm on August 9, 2024, in Luegbo Community in Khana Local Government Area of the state.
The state Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, disclosed this while parading the fake Inspector, other suspects and the recovered military gear to newsmen at a media briefing in the command’s headquarters in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
Disu, however, said when the operatives arrived at the supposed scene, they discovered that it was an initiation ceremony by students while the fake Inspector provided cover for them.
He stated, “On arriving at the scene, the police met with an ongoing gruesome cult initiation process. Five suspects, later found to be students of the Ken Saro Wiwa Polytechnic, were arrested.
“The students, Mduni Clement, Prosper Wonyingipreye, Kunle Joseph, Eken Evans and Isaiah Elisha, confessed to being members of the Vikings confraternity. They have been charged in court and are presently in a correctional centre.
“While carrying out the arrest of the five cultists, the police encountered a man with them, fully dressed in police camouflage and donning the rank of an Inspector of Police.
“He was armed with an AK-47 rifle, 10 magazines and 29 rounds of live ammunition. He was taken into custody and after interrogations, his identity was revealed as Fred Monday, a 31-year-old from Wiyakara Community in Khana LGA of Rivers State and resident at the F-man Close, Eneka Link Road, Port Harcourt.”
Disu added, “He confessed to being an Impostor who bought the rifle in 2021 for N850,000 from an accomplice, Goodluck aka Boy-J.
“He also bought 10 magazines, 31 rounds of ammunition, and two hand grenades from the same accomplice. He disclosed to the police how he and other gang members would disguise themselves as policemen to escort criminals to operate in different states, including Akwa Ibom, Edo, Delta and Rivers states.
“Fred Monday is a confessed member of the Iceland cult group and has been carrying out numerous crimes using the cover of being a policeman to terrorise his victims.
“He is also an armed robber who operated as a Keke (tricycle) rider during the day, scanning the area for possible victims to attack under the cover of night,” adding that operatives were hunting other fleeing gang members.
He said exhibits recovered from the suspect were one AK-47 rifle
10 magazines, 29 rounds of live ammunition.
In another development, the state police boss disclosed that operatives arrested four suspects linked to a notorious cultist, Daddy Chukwu, who was traced to his hideout in Delta State and killed early this year by the police after they shot and killed a community leader, Chief Ndidi Livingstone, in the presence of his family.
Disu said, “Recall the assassination of the then Community Development Committee Chairman of Mgbuoshimini, Chief Ndidi Livingstone on January 13, 2024, in front of his church, the Peculiar Faith Ministries, Rumueme.
“The cold-blooded murder which was carried out in broad daylight was captured in a viral video that sparked outrage. I directed a team of operatives of the FID-Intelligence Response Team and the Rivers State Command on a nationwide manhunt for the killers.”
He further said following investigations, other members of the gang were identified in a video by a special team.
“The unrelenting manhunt for the perpetrators seen shooting and murdering the deceased in the viral video has now led to the arrest of the three other persons directly responsible for the assassination and six more persons belonging to their criminal network.”
Disu however said while the four arrested suspects led operatives to one of the camps to recover arms and ammunition, other gang members opened fire on them and as those arrested tried to escape they were gunned down.
He said, “During the investigation, four of the suspects, John Lucas, ‘m’, Nnamdi Emmanuel, m ‘, Ogolo Promise, ‘m’ and Adebayo Adebayo, ‘m’, led operatives to one of their camps at Pipeline, Aluu village for the recovery of their cache of weapons. While approaching the camp, they came under heavy gunfire by hoodlums suspected to be fellow gang members.
“The suspects attempted to escape in the ensuing ambush but were caught in the crossfire. The hoodlums were eventually overpowered, and the suspects were rushed to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital for medical attention.
“The doctor confirmed them dead, and they were deposited in the UPTH morgue for autopsy,” saying that efforts were still on to apprehend more suspects connected to the late Chukwu criminal network and possibly recover more arms ammunition.
