Abducted policeman found dead in Edo forest

Four robbery suspects arrested over murder of policeman in Lagos
The Deputy Superintendent of Police, Godwin Oshiogbuwe, abducted at Ubiaja, Esan South East local government area of Edo State, has been found dead. His body was found in a forest on Ubiaja-Ewohimi-Agbor road by a police tactical team in a pursuit of the kidnappers.

Police sources said he was killed because the kidnappers discovered him to be a policeman through his police identification card and pictures in his mobile phone. The late Oshiogbuwe hailed from Auchi in Edo and served in Abuja before his death.

The recovered body has since been deposited in the mortuary for autopsy. Edo Police spokesman, DSP Chidi Nwabuzor, said it was a search party that discovered the body of the slain policeman at Emu-Oken bush.

Meanwhile, the Lagos State police command has arrested four suspected members of a robbery gang alleged to have murdered the administrative police officer attached to Ijaniki Police Division, Lagos, last year. The deceased cop, ASP Akinde Abiodun, was shot by rampaging cultists in Ijanikin, 24 hours after throwing a birthday bash for his girlfriend in a beer parlour within the area.

The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Zubairu Muazu, who paraded the suspects before journalists yesterday, at the command’s headquarter, said: “On March 19, 2019, at about 5:20p.m. a distress call was received at Ijanikin division that an armed robbery gang was operating around Ijaniki, robbing unsuspecting members of the public of cash, phones and other valuables.

Patrol teams from the division and operatives of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS), Mowo, were deployed to the scene. Four suspects: Akinwale Bamido, 23, Olarewaju Bamido, 22, John Mathew, 21, and Adeniyi Moses, 23 were arrested. During interrogation, the suspects confessed to belonging to the syndicate that recently killed the Administrative Officer, Ijanikin Division.

“Investigation also revealed that the suspects were among the robbery gangs terrorizing motorists along Badagry-Mile 2 area. They will be charged to court for conspiracy, armed robbery and murder,” he said.

But one of the suspects, Akinwale, denied culpability in the murder of the policeman. He admitted that he was a cultist but maintained that he had no hand in the policeman’s death. “I did not kill any policeman. Yes, I am a cultist but none of us killed the policeman in question,” Akinwale said.

Recovered from the suspects are one locally-made gun with seven live cartridges, weed suspected to be Indian hemp and charms.