BY OGORAMAKA AMOS / PORT HARCOURT
THE Rivers State Police Command has condemned a brutal attack by suspected cultists in Ahoada East Local Government Area, leaving a vigilante and a police officer dead in a hail of bullets.
The assailants, believed to be members of the dreaded Iceland cult, stormed the vigilante’s (OSPAC) office near the Ahoada East Council Secretariat in a daring daylight assault, opening fire on security operatives.
Police spokesperson SP Grace Iringe-Koko confirmed that the attackers were led by two notorious cult leaders: Umegbewe Kingsley (alias ‘Gutam’) and Opaka (surname unknown). During the attack, vigilante operative Ngozi Ipah was shot dead. As the gunmen fled, they also ambushed and killed Corporal Francis Friday, an officer attached to the Special Intervention Squad (SIS) stationed at the Secretariat.
Police patrol teams, led by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), rushed to the scene but arrived to find the killers had vanished. The victims were rushed to Ahoada General Hospital but were pronounced dead on arrival due to multiple gunshot wounds. Their bodies have been moved to the morgue for autopsy.
Commissioner of Police Olugbenga Adepoju, visited the scene and immediately deployed tactical units to the area, vowing that the perpetrators “will not escape justice”
The police urged residents to remain calm but vigilant, calling for immediate reports of suspicious activities.
