From Ben Dunno, Warri
Residents of Ughelli community in Delta state took to the streets yesterday to celebrate the arrest of three (3) brothers who were members of a notorious kidnapping syndicate that had terrorized commuters along the popular Warri-Ughelli- Port-Harcourt expressway in recent times.
The residents who could no longer cope the state of insecurity in the community, following the upsurge in cases of violent crimes such as kidnapping, robbery and cultism, were seen dancing and jubilating over the arrest made by the Military Joint Task Force, ‘Operation Delta Hawk’.
The ‘Military JTF Operation Delta Hawk’, made up of soldiers from the 3 Battalion, Effurun Barracks under the ‘Operation Delta Safe’, the Navy Police and Civil Defence Corp, was set up by the state government to curb the growing waves of violent crimes in the state.
A community leader, who identified himself simply as Joe (for security reasons) disclosed that the three brothers arrested, whose names were given as; Godwin Okpara, Matthew Okpara and Godspower Okpara, had been on the watch list by the residents of the area for quite sometime now.
He hinted that their suspicious movements and sinister activities especially at ungodly hours had attracted residents to them and as such they were being monitored even by the vigilantes engaged by the community.
According to him; “It was at the point that they can longer tolerate them that they had to report their activities to the military JTF ‘Operation Delta Hawk’, who immediately sung jnto action by placing the residential area of the suspects under surveillance and monitoring their movements”.
“It was just yesterday (Saturday) at about 10:20pm, that the operatives of the Military JTF concluded their surveillance and invaded their apartment to effect their arrest”.
From report reaching us the items recovered from them are;
One AK 47 Rifle, Two locally made guns, ten live rounds of 7.62mm, two life cartridges and four mobile phones with unregistered sim cards that were being used to reach our to the victims relations to demand for ransom.
“While we learnt that the suspects have made confessional statements, they are still being interrogated at the 3 Battalion, Effurun Barracks for more information on their networks across the state”.
We wish to appreciate the remarkable efforts and commitment of the Sector 1
Commander, ‘Operation Delta Safe’, Col Sanni Ahmed and the Commanding Officer, 3 Battalion, Major Ismael Hussain, in the ongoing war against crime in the state, he stated.