THE Nigeria Police at Force yesterday, disclosed that its operatives of FIB and IRT (Intelligence Response Team) have busted the criminal gang that attacked the convoy of Apostle Johnson Suleiman, the founder of Omega Fire Ministries Worldwide, and, in the process, killed two members of the gang and arrested another.
Recall that during the fatal attack on Suleiman’s convoy, on October 21, 2022, along the Benin-Auchi road, six persons, including three police personnel, were killed, while their service rifles were stolen.
Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, who disclosed this at IRT headquarters in Abuja, while parading the gang member arrested, said: “Operatives of FIB-IRT on the trail of the assailants apprehended Yusuf Isah, a native of Okene, Kogi State, and a plumber, at Agbara Oluwa Phase 2, Ijoka, Akure, Ondo State, and recovered five Ak-47 rifles, two K2 Assault rifles, 180 live ammunition and four suspected IEDs found in his apartment.
“Investigations revealed that the suspect was part of the seven-member gang responsible for the attack on the convoy of the Apostle and some of the rifles found in his possession were, in fact, rifles snatched from the three police officers killed during the 21st October 2022 attack.
“The suspect confessed he joined the vicious gang in 2021 after he was freed from Olokuta Prisons, where he was on remand since 2019 for involvement in an armed robbery.
“The group specialised in kidnapping for ransom and has carried out about four kidnapping operations between 2021 and 2023, including the attack on the convoy of the Apostle before the gang was eventually busted by the Police.
“Two members of the seven-man gang were gunned down in separate encounters with the Police. The suspect confessed that the gang was responsible for the kidnap of a popular oil dealer at Jattu, Auchi, in 2022, where they obtained a ransom of about N70 million before his release.
“The gang equally carried out the kidnap of a businessman along Benin-Agbor Express Road in 2022 and collected N20 million as ransom from the victim’s family.
“Their last attempt at kidnapping after the failed attack on the Apostle was along Owo-Ikare Road where they were heavily engaged and repelled by the police escort accompanying their target.
‘The suspect further confessed the plan of the gang on 21st October 2022, was to forcibly kidnap the Apostle and collect a huge ransom.
“They had trailed him for days and planted an informant on the Benin-Auchi Express Road to feed them with updates on his itinerary on the day of the attack.
“Isah said he was the one who first opened fire on the convoy upon its approach but noted that their key target managed to escape the attack. CSP Adejobi said efforts were on to apprehend other suspects still at large.
Similarly, operatives of the FIB-IRT arrested a four-man gang which kidnapped a Swiss national, demanded the payment of $2000 ransom from his family in Switzerland and threatened to harvest his kidney if the ransom was not paid.
Eighteen-Eleven Media