Kidnap suspect narrates how gang beheaded five vigilantes in Rivers

By Chioma Joseph

A 21-year-old kidnap for ransom suspect, Onyebuchi Amadi, allegedly involved in the killing of five members of a local vigilance group in Rumuodogbo Community, Emohua Local Government Area (LGA) of Rivers State, known as OSPAC, has been arrested.

Amadi, said to be a member of the notorious Icelander Confraternity was arrested alongside two other members of his gang, Uzoma Amandi and Uburize Omesi, by operatives of the Force Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

It was gathered that Amadi and his gang had been terrorizing residents Rivers State and it environ in recent time.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the gang, who operate with two pump action guns and an Ak-47 rifle loaded with four magazines and 120 rounds of live ammunition, usually kidnap their victim from Port Harcourt city and ferry them to their camps in Chuba area of the state, where they are kept for days before ransom is paid to secure their release.

A police source privy to the arrest of the suspects disclosed that the Inspector General of Police was alerted about gang’s activities after five members of OSPAC vigilante members were killed and beheaded when they confronted members of the gang at Rumuodogbo community.

The source explained that operatives of the IRT, headed by Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, was deployed to investigate and track down members of the gang.

According to the source, “ When we commenced our investigations, we discovered that these kidnappers don’t reside in Rivers State.

Though they are natives of Rumuodgbo Community but they are based in Aba Town and they come into Rivers State to carry out their kidnapping.

They have their camp, where they keep their victims in Chuba area and they normally drive into Portharcourt city to kidnap their victims.

“Their targets are mainly people driving flashy cars around highbrow neighborhoods within Portharcourt city and they usually abandon victims cars after the kidnapping.

They know when security checking point along the road is relaxed and they will transport them swiftly into their camp in a forest in Chuba area of Rivers State.

We discovered from their victims we interviewed that the gang do not like wasting time with their victims.

“When they kidnap a person, they usually don’t demand huge amounts as ransom and they accept whatever is paid to them and they release their victim and move on to kidnap another person and by the end of the week they will return back to Abia State where they all live with their families as responsible men.

“The killing and behanding of the OSPAC vigilante was what gave them up and it enabled us in generating enough intelligence that led to the arrest of three members of the gang.”

Speaking on how members of the gang operates, Amadi, a father of one, said they don’t demand much from the families of their victims.

Explaining why the five vigilante operatives were killed, Amadi said it was a retaliatory action, stating the operatives had earlier killed some persons in the community.

He said: “ I am from Emohua LGA of rivers state, I am a tricycle driver, I am married with a child. I am a member of Icelander confraternity and it was one of my friends known as Biggie that forced me into joining the cult group.

We killed the OSPAC Vigilante men because they killed some people in our community.

“We also beheaded them and took their heads round our community because we want it to serve as deterrents to others and we threatening to kill more vigilantes if they don’t leave our community.

After I joined the cult group, we ventured into kidnapping and I have took part in seven operations.

“Biggie is our gang leader and he was the person that led the kidnap operation where we kidnapped a woman from Portharcourt in July 2020 and we kept her at Choba for three days.

We didn’t sleep with the woman. Biggie was the person who negotiated the ransom and I don’t know how much was paid.

“He gave me the sum of N90,000 and on the second operation, we kidnapped a man from Porthacourt as well and kept him at Chuba and without wasting time ransom was paid and he was released and I got N150,000 for the operation.

on the third and four operations, we kidnapped two men separately from PortHarcourt and we took them to our camp.

“They didn’t waste time with us and their ransom was paid and I got N90,000 and N110,000 as share respectively while on the fift operation we were four persons that went for the operation and we kidnapped a man around Chuba area and took him into our camp, one of our gang members known as Augustin was the person who negotiated the ransom and we collected the sum of N300,000 from the victim as ransom and I got N80,000 as my share.”

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He continued: “ We then went to Rumumaci area and kidnap another man, I don’t know his name and we kept him at Chuba and I got N50,000 from his ransom.

I also kidnapped a man at Iliozo area and I got N80,000 from it.

My last operation was the kidnap of an Indian national and it was Augustine that brought the job. we kidnapped the man at Rumuola and we kept him at Chuba. “

They man spent four days with us and the sum of N2million was paid as ransom and I got N200,000 as my share.

I relocated to Aba Town because I don’t want the police to arrest me in Rivers State over my atrocities , but the police traced me down to Aba where I was eventually arrested. ”