Two male gang members, Idigbe Osreis (19) and Idigbe Perfect (16) were reportedly rounded up at their hideouts.
PUNCH Metro gathered that one police undercover operative who was in the vicinity sighted one of the suspected teenage robbers named Gift Peace, and later trailed him to the Suya spot from where he was nabbed.
It was gathered that on September 29, 2023, the Divisional Police Officer ‘B’ Division, Warri, SP Bolarinwa Alabi, received a distress call about an armed robbery operation at Giwamu Junction in Warri. Acting on the directive of the state commissioner of police, CP Wale Abass, the DPO embarked on an intelligence-led operation alongside his men and eventually arrested the 14-year-old suspect at the said Suya spot.
During interrogation, the teenager reportedly confessed to being a member of an armed robbery gang that terrorised Warri and its environs and that he had been in the act since he was seven years old.
He mentioned other members and thus took the detectives to their hideouts.
The Police Public Relations Officer for Delta State Command, DSP Bright Edafe, in a signed statement, affirmed that the gang members upon sighting the operatives opened fire from their unregistered operational tricycle.
The police spokesman said that the operatives gave “due response” to the hostility of the gangsters.
In the process, the PPRO added, one of the suspects who was later identified as the leader of the gang sustained serious gunshot injuries and was taken to the hospital where he was eventually confirmed dead by the doctor. However, his other counterparts escaped.
Exhibits recovered from the suspects, according to the police spokesman, include their operational tricycle, one locally made cut-to-size single barrel gun with stocked expended cartridges, and three live cartridges.
The PPRO stated that efforts were ongoing to arrest the fleeing gang members and also to recover more of their operational arms.
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner of Police, Abass, has emphasised the necessity of adequate parenting as an essentiality in the fight against crime.
The police boss advised that parents should be alive to their responsibilities and safeguard the future of their children by monitoring and teaching them valuable precautionary lessons that will help them avoid bad companies and hence stay away from criminal activities.
