. Recover corpse of missing real estate magnate in Bayelsa

 Fidelis David in Akure  and Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa

The Ondo State Police Command has cracked down on an armed robbery gang allegedly responsible for the brutal armed robbery and murder of a 25-year-old man, Nwike Sabbat, in Ondo West Local Government Area of the state.

This is just as the Command arrested an 87-year-old man, Chief Kogbona, for allegedly supplying arms and ammunition to the gang.

The state Commissioner of Police, Adebowale Lawal, made this known in Akure while speaking with journalists on the recent achievements of the command.

He said in continuation of its relentless effort to rid Ondo State of violent criminal elements, the Command has recorded a major breakthrough in the ongoing investigation into the brutal armed robbery and murder of Nwike which occurred on July 29, 2025, in Ondo town.

The commissioner said following actionable intelligence and sustained investigation, the police arrested Adeife Adewumi (male), a native of Idanre but resident in Mokola, Ibadan, Oyo State, after the deceased’s stolen motorcycle was found in his possession.

According to him, “During interrogation, Adeife Adewumi revealed information implicating his accomplices who were still at large within Ondo State.

“Acting on this lead, an intelligence-led team proceeded to Ilaramokin in Ifedore LGA, where two additional suspects, Johnson Mathew, 24, and Disu Sunday, were arrested in their hideout.”

The CP stressed that both suspects, who currently reside in Ilaramokin, confessed to being part of the gang responsible for the robbery and murder of the victim, and that their confessions corroborated earlier statements made by the first suspect.

“Upon arrest, the following items were recovered from the suspects: two cut-to-size locally made guns (barrels); one live cartridge; one expended cartridge.

“Subsequently, at about 1000hrs, further investigation led to the arrest of one Chief Kogbona, 87, of Odole Street, Ododo, Idanre, who has been identified as the illegal supplier of arms and ammunition to the gang. A search conducted at his residence resulted in the recovery of 10 live cartridges,” he stated.

Equally, he said operatives of the Command arrested 10 illegal immigrants, who smuggled themselves and one other individual into Nigeria from the Republic of Benin and Congo.

The CP explained that the illegal immigrants allegedly conspired to unlawfully bring one Nzaou Yelica Christ-Olse, a 29-year-old Congolese man, into the country without his consent.

Adebowale, while stating that all suspects will be charged to court upon the completion of investigations, reiterated the Command’s unwavering commitment to the vision of the Inspector General of Police (IG), Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, which emphasises people-centred policing, intelligence-led operations, and the uncompromising pursuit of justice.

 Meanwhile, operatives of the Rapid Response Unit of the Bayelsa State Police Command last Saturday evening recovered the corpse of a missing real estate operator, Ekpeboh Richard, after days of being declared missing by his family.

His decomposing body was recovered from a forest between new NDDC road and Otuokpoti in Ogbia Local Government Area of the state.

Police discovered that the deceased was shot in the head in an executional style and dumped in the bush.

A graduate of the Niger Delta University, Ekpeboh is the vice chairman of the Real Estate Consultants Association of Bayelsa State, and hails from Ammassoma in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the State. He is married with two kids.

He left home on July 24, 2025, and the wife became worried at about 2 a.m. when he failed to return home.

According to family sources, all calls by the worried wife to his mobile phone were left unanswered until three days later via WhatsApp chat when he purportedly asked her not to mount unnecessary pressure on him and that he was okay.

Further prompted by the wife that she would reach out to the extended family to ask him why he abandoned the house was met by a promise to send money via PoS, where the sun of N15,300 was purportedly sent to a PoS agent and not her account.

The family source also revealed that he was owing two persons the sums of N9 million and N3 million respectively within the association.

However, it was later discovered that those who abducted and killed him were the ones using his phone to chat with his worried wife.

According to some friends and colleague of the deceased, they later reported the matter to the Police and the men of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) headed by CSP Bishop Elemide.

The RRS operatives, working on intelligence, youths and an eyewitness, discovered that two young men in a blue Honda car had dragged the deceased out and took him into the forest, and “what we heard later were two gun shots. And the two young men scampered to their car and left. They also left with the deceased car, a Toyota Matrix car.”

Police investigators discovered that there was a struggle between the deceased and his killers with footwear discovered a few metres from where the body was discovered.

“We (the youths) assisted in recovering the body. The place he was dumped was a swamp. His head was blown off by gunshot,” one of the youths revealed.

THISDAY gathered from sources at the police headquarters that the homicide department of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) has taken over the case and are already working on two leads.

“We are looking at the fact that it may be a case of business deals gone wrong with members of his association of real estate consultants or that he may be involved in cybercrime or money laundering deal that went wrong.

“We will get to the root of the matter and bring the culprits to book,” a police source stated.

A senior police officer, who confirmed the development, told THISDAY that the state Commissioner of Police, Francis Idu, is fully aware of the development.

The post Police Crack Armed Robbery Gang, Arrest 87-year-old Arms Supplier in Ondo appeared first on THISDAYLIVE.

​