BARRY AGBANIGBI, Asaba
The leader of suspected kidnappers of an 80-year-old woman, Ifejuwa Otote, has given a graphic account of how he masterminded the act.
Although he denied killing their victim, he, however, affirmed that he led the gang that kidnapped the mother of a London-based Nigerian engineer.
The gang leader, Mr. Efe Emmanuel who hails from Mosogan community in Ethiope West Local Government of Delta State blamed the devil for his alleged involvement in the evil act.
He said he had participated in several robbery operations within and outside Delta State. “I had to abandon robbery for kidnapping because people no longer travel with cash, kidnapping is more lucrative, Efe confessed. ‘’Robbery is not for the chicken-hearted, you must have big heart to be able to rob.”
The Efe led four men armed gang allegedly killed with impunity. The gang was said to be highly connected to both top politicians and some police officers in the state. When members of the gang were arrested and detained, their freedom was often influenced, an inside source confided.
The list of casualties of this terror armed gang is endless. It inflicted agony, tears and sorrows in many homes.
They were brutal, wicked and heartless, said sources. The pains, tears and sorrows left behind in these homes by this armed gang will forever be remembered by the families of the victims, said Mr. John Akporotor, a vigilante member from Ethiope West Local Government of Delta State. Like the saying goes that anything that has a beginning must have an end is a perfect illustration of the activities of Efe whose four men armed gang was recently swooped on by the police.
The dreaded Efe was arrested in a hotel room by a special crack detectives from the State police Headquarters, Asaba following a tip-off.
Efe and his gang were among the thirty five suspects paraded by the police at Asaba for various crimes ranging from armed robbery, kidnapping, Homicide to burglaring. While briefing the press, the State police commissioner Akili Baba Usman had a new strategy to fight the rising crime wave in the state. But how well this strategy will be effective is now left to the text of time.
