Police Kill De-Gbam’s Kingpin In Etche

The combined team of
SARS and Octopus of the Rivers State Police command at the weekend, shot and killed the leader of a dreaded De-gbam cult group terrorizing communities in Etche Local Government Area of the state.
The De-gbam commander popularly called “Papa” was said to have been shot and killed by a joint patrol police team comprising the SARS and Octopus. The combined police team responded to distress call  received from inhabitants of Obibi community in Etche LGA.
A source who spoke to The Tide said the late “Papa” and his members engaged the police in a gun battle for about 30 minutes before he was gunned down by the police and added that De-gbam cult group had been unleashing terror in Obibi and other communities in the local government area.
The source also said that trouble started on Wednesday morning when the vigilante group from the community arrested a suspected robber a member of Dey-gbam cult group who was accused of robbing people of their belonging along Obibi-Akwukabi that morning and added in attempt  to arrest the robber the vigilante group was resisted by the De-gbam group.
According to the source, the vigilante men later took the robber and burnt him to death and added that the late Papa led his dreaded group to one of the vigilante members at Umuode in Obibi town and burnt their house down in retaliation to the killing of their member by the vigilante group.
The Tide learnt that the vigilante men irked by the development sent a distress call to the men of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and men of Octopus who were stationed within the local government area.
The Tide further learnt that the combined security men stormed Umuere Obibi and unknown to the late Papa and his group that the policemen had arrived the community so on sighting the policemen they opened fire at the policemen and in an exchange of the gun fire, Papa was shot dead.
A senior member of the police team who confirmed the killing said they were still trailing the other gang leaders of the Dey-gbam cults group in the are adding that they will a stop at nothing in ensuring that the cultists are all apprehended.
Efforts to reach the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) DSP Ahmed Mohammed to comment on the matter was not successful as he was said to be out of the state for official purpose.