The police in Rivers State has arrested two young men, suspected to be members of Iceland cult group that killed the former Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Ahoada East Local Council of the state, Superintendent of Police (DPO), Bako Angbashim.
Spokesperson for the Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, who confirmed the development in a statement, said one of the suspects, (names withheld), was arrested in Edoaha Community in Ahoada East.
Iringe-Koko said: “Operatives on Monday, at about 7:43p.m., acting on actionable information apprehended a young man suspected to be a member of an Iceland cult group that killed the former Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Ahoada East Local Council.
“The suspect was about to be lynched by an angry mob, before the subsequent intervention of a team of police officers who swung into action to rescue him from being burnt with a tyre on his neck.
“He was rescued and brought to the station where he made a useful statement. He was later transferred to State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for discreet investigation to apprehend the fleeing kingpin, his gang members, and to recover their operational weapons.”
However, a video making the rounds on social media platforms showed a young man with a tyre around his neck being interrogated by a mob.
The man was heard saying: “When they killed the DPO, I was not there. I was across the river and I didn’t know where they buried him. But I can take you where they carried him to, but I could not watch because I have a human conscience.”
When asked about the prime suspect, Gift Davide Okpara, alias 2baba, he said: “2baba has guns. It is about 40. The person who supplies him with guns, I do not know, he contacts them through calls and he does not disclose his dealings with us. Even the witch doctor that performs his charms, the man is said to come from Ogoni. I have seen the man and he is tall, not dark in complexion and the things the two of them are doing are kept away from us, his boys.”
Subsequently, another video surfaced with another suspect, who gave his name as Chukwuki Opara Lot.
The suspect, in the video, admitted to being a member of the cult group, confessing that 2baba butchered the DPO’s head and buried his remains in the Udemudie community in Ahoada East.
According to him, “ I am from Ahoada West and I cannot say what I do not know. I cannot deny that I am not a member of Iceland. But to be frank, I did not see a strand of hair of the DPO.
They buried him (DPO) in Udemude Community by 2baba. It was him that cut his head. I was not there when he was killed. Although my friend showed me the place where he was killed,” he confessed.
