Operatives of the tactical squad of Operation Puff Adder of the Bayelsa State Police Command have arrested the suspected killer of 42-year-old estate agent, Richard Ekpebu.

Ekpebu was abducted and murdered in cold blood on the 24th of July, 2025, with his body dumped in a bush along the new Otuoke Road near Bayelsa Palm.

The suspected killer, identified as George Idumangi, hails from Ogbia Local Government Area and claims to be a member of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) worldwide. He was arrested in Lagos while attempting to procure an international passport at the Immigration office.

It was gathered that following complaints and a petition by the family of the deceased over alleged delay in the investigation, the State Commissioner of Police, Francis Idu, ordered that the case be transferred to Operation Puff Adder headed by Commander Chris Nwaogbo.

Police sources confirmed that the investigation and trailing of the suspected killer took the operatives of Puff Adder from Yenagoa to Lekki, Ikorodu, Festac Town, Ikeja, and Orile in Lagos State in the last one week.

The investigating police officers stormed the homes identified as his hideouts in Lagos and narrowly missed him, but they were able to recover his bag containing a T-shirt with the inscription IYC Tactical Team and two phones he was using when he killed the deceased.

CSP Chris Nwaogbo and his team, within a recorded time of eight days, also arrested the girlfriend of the alleged killer, identified as 23-year-old Victory Benard Henry, and recovered one pump-action gun, five live cartridges, three empty AK-47 magazines, four 10 walkie-talkies, 10 chargers, and three AK-47 slings kept in her custody in Yenagoa.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the deceased was contacted by the suspect’s girlfriend that there was land for sale.

The late agent linked the suspect with the potential buyer, and the sum of N9 million was paid directly to the suspect’s account, where Mary, the girlfriend, was alleged to have benefitted the sum of N1 million for her role in the deal.

It was, however, gathered that trouble started when the buyer demanded the documents of the land and contacted the agent for the papers.

Sources further revealed that the agent asked them to meet the owner of the land as he was left out of the transaction. He told the buyer that instead of making him aware of the transaction, they paid without his knowledge.

The deceased was told that his killer claimed he had been given the documents to the land, a claim he denied. He called the suspect to warn him not to lie against him.

The suspect, in the company of one Victor Shadrack, was said to have lured the deceased out of his house and abducted him before killing him. “They killed him because they wanted to cover up the lie they told the buyer that the deceased had run away with the land document.”

Police sources also informed our correspondent that the land had earlier been sold to the Chief Security Officer to the former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, before the suspects sold it again to another person.

Confirming the incident, the State Commissioner of Police, Francis Idu, said: “After painstaking intelligence and law enforcement measures, Mr. George Idumangi, who murdered Mr. Richard Ekpebu at Bayelsa Palm in early August, was arrested this morning in Lagos trying to flee the country. This was done with real intelligence.”