Suspect nicknamed ‘militant general’ killed after three months hunt

Detectives attached to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT) have gunned down Mr Prosper David aka militant general and recovered AK47rifle.

The smashing of the militant general’s gang started after a follow up to the abduction of Mrs Tina Bob-Manuel. The suspect was gunned down on February 21, 2018.

Another suspect arrested in connection with the gang is Johnson Denis, driver to the militant general. There are also Benjamin Johnson and Anthony Joshua, who are members of the gang. They were arrested between February, 21and March 14.

Recovered from the kingpin are a victim’s phone, one AK47 rifle, one magazine with 26 rounds of live ammunition, four expended ammunitions and a Nokia phone belonging to a victim. The Nokia phone has been discovered to be used for ransom negotiation.

According to a police source, IRT operatives, led by Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr Abba Kyari, traced the kingpin, Proposer David aka Militant General, who embraced the federal government amnesty programme, but later formed a kidnapping gang in Bayelsa State, where he was fatally injured during gun duel with IRT operatives deployed to Port-Harcourt by IGP Ibrahim Idris, to fight kidnapping and other violent crimes.

A police source said: “The gang was smashed because of petitions written to the IGP for armed robber and kidnapping leveled against them by the petitioner and after the arrest, it was discovered that Zone 5 Benin are on the case already, hence some other suspects have been handed over to Zone 5 to continue the investigation.”

It was gathered that the IRT operatives had been on the general’s trail for long time after he masterminded the abduction of Bob-Manuel on November 22, 2017 in her shop located at No.107 Nvuigwe Road Woji Port-Harcourt and several other kidnappings.

The source said: “The suspect went underground after the collection of ransom in two installments. When he sensed that the police were closing in on him, he dropped his contact number known to his personal driver that was earlier arrested by the police and relocated his family from Victory Estate Azikoro Yenagoa in December 2017 to the Creek, all in a bid to avoid arrest. After about 90 days of painstaking intelligence gathering with technical assistance support from Technical Intelligence Unit (TIU), the suspect was tracked to Asiri area of Yenagoa Bayelsa State, to his new rented apartment. When he sighted the operatives, he ran into his apartment ceiling from where he engaged the operatives in a gun duel. But was neutralized and fatally injured.”