Two suspected armed robbers, Gift Famous a.k.a ‘Bobone’ and Edafe Friday Onaibe a.k.a ‘Laslas 1500’ died of gunshot wounds on Friday, December 2, 2022, in a gun duel with operatives in Delta State Police Command.
Before their death, Thenewsbearer learnt that the suspects had been on the Command’s wanted list for their criminal deeds in Warri and other parts of the state.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Bright Edafe, who confirmed the story on Sunday, December 4, said that prior to the exchange of gunfire, the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Ovwian Aladja, CSP Aliyu Shaba, got information that two members of the dreaded ‘Momotimi’ gang were sighted at a drink joint at Opete community in Owvain Aladja, Udu Local Government Area.
The DPO led a team of police operatives to the scene where they found the two wanted suspects.
On sighting the police, the suspects reportedly fired gunshots at them to aid their escape.
The police operatives however returned the firing while giving them a hot chase, and in the ensuing gun duel, both suspects sustained fatally injuries.
Recovered from them were a locally-made single barrel pistol, a cut-to-size locally-made double-barrel gun, six live cartridges and a round of live 7:62mm AK-47 ammunition.
While being taken to a hospital, the suspects, according to the PPRO, confessed to carrying out several robberies, assassination, including the murder of one Douglas Abugu in Ekpan on August 18, 2022.
One of the suspects, Famous, who was an ex-convict, told police operatives that the reason for killing Douglas was because the deceased took over his position as quarter chairman when he was in prison, and on his return after regaining freedom, he could not retake his position.
Famous also confessed to the murder of one ‘small doctor’ in the same Ekpan axis on August 22.
The suspect further revealed that he was responsible for the attempted kidnap/murder of a man (name withheld) in Ekpan, when they shot him in a bid to kidnap him.
Both suspects who were fatally wounded in the gun duel were said to have died before getting to the hospital.
The PPRO said that the state Commissioner of Police, Ari Muhammed Ali, had ordered a manhunt for the other members of the gang.
The police commissioner also solicited for more support from members of the public through giving timely, credible and useful information to the police.
CP Ali advised parents and guardians to caution their children and wards, especially the youths, to desist from crime.
