The Rivers State Police Command on Monday said its men have killed “a notorious gang leader’’, Linus Lebari, 35, popularly known as Bobby/Devil.
The kidnap kkingpin was said to have been terrorising Ogoni area of the state.
The command’s spokesman, DSP Nnamdi Omoni, said in a statement in Port Harcourt that operatives from the Bori Police Station, in a coordinated operation, trailed the deceased and his gang to their hideout in a forest at Okwale in the boundary between Rivers and Abia States.
According to him, when the hoodlums noticed irregular movements around their camp, they began shooting randomly.
Omoni said the police returned fire and fatally wounded one of them, identified as Linus Lebari, the leader of the kidnap gang.
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“The gang is responsible for all the attacks on the Ogoni axis of the East/West road and have killed over 30 people in Khana and Gokana Local Government Areas after collecting ransom,’’ he said in a statement.
According to Omoni, two policemen sustained gunshot wounds during the operation and are currently responding to treatment.
“One locally made pistol and some cartridges were recovered, and efforts are on to arrest other gang members who fled with gunshot wounds,’’ he added.
The Police spokesman said the Rivers Police Commissioner, Mr. Mustapha Dandaura, has assured the public that the fight against banditry in the state would continue until all criminal elements were eliminated.
He pleaded with the people to provide the police with credible information using the following numbers: 08032003514 and 08028915462.
