Police have smashed a gang of militants, who used to rob and kidnap unsuspecting Nigerians in Abuja.
The suspects were arrested after a gun battle with policemen. The gang met its waterloo on November, 28. While three of the suspects were alleged to have been killed during a shootout with the police, one of them, James Peter (30), was taken alive. Peter had since been singing like a bird, confessing his crime and mentioning names of his gang members.
Recovered from them is one General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) with bridge number 132/095, with chain of bullets and one AK47 rifle with bridge number 0231 and two fully loaded AK47 magazines.
A police source said: “The suspects were arrested based on credible intelligence gathering. The police got information about the gang and had been keeping track of them for weeks.
The gang specialised in robbery and kidnapping and had been terrorising the waterways and kidnapping within Rivers and Bayelsa states. They were intercepted by IRT operatives on Azikiwe Road, Port Harcourt. They were going for an operation when they were intercepted. The gang members, on sighting the IRT team, opened fire and engaged the operatives in a fierce gun battle.
Three of the hoodlums were fatally wounded while James Peter, 30, from Southern Ijaw, was arrested alive.” Bodies of the three suspects were deposited at a mortuary for autopsy.
