Army raids cultists hideout in Uyo, kills ring leader

The troops of 2 Brigade, Nigerian Army, have killed two militants and the second-in-command to a suspected kidnap kingpin, Akaninyene Jumbo, aka Iso Akpafit.

 

The Assistant Director, Public Relations, 2 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Major Umar Shuaib, in a statement, disclosed this to newsmen on Tuesday.

The Statement said the militants, Aniebet Udoh and Thankgod Osiokpaphi, were shot dead on Tuesday following military raids on their hideouts at Ikpe village in the Etim Ekpo Local Government Area.

“The gallant troops of 2 Brigade Nigerian Army had on Monday 15 January 2018 acting on tipoff trailed a notorious cultist and renowned killer Akaninyene Jumbo Uko Alias Isopafit at Inyih village, a border town between Akwa Ibom and Abia states.

“The culprit was known for terrorising the inhabitants of Ukanafun Local government Area in Akwa Ibom State.

“He perpetrated the killings of two Nigerian Police personnel and a Truck driver in Ukanafun local government area on 17 November last year.

“He also masterminded the killing of a commissioner’s sister and two others in Ikot Oko Osun community in Ukunafun local government area on 19 November 2017,’’ he said, adding that the suspects had been evading arrests after all the incidents.

“After our first operation, which led to the killing of Iso Akpafit, our gallant troops, following another tip-off, invaded the hideout of the remaining gang members at Ikpe village in the Etim Ekpo Local Government Area on Tuesday.

”We engaged the hoodlums in a shootout and killed two of them, namely Aniebet Udoh and Thankgod Osiokpaphi, the other kidnappers escaped with gunshot injuries,” he said.

It stated that items recovered from the hoodlums include one pump-action gun, two locally-made shotguns, 13 live cartridges, eight expended cartridges, two dane guns and two cutlasses adding that their corpses had been deposited at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital mortuary.

The statement said that the Commander, 2 Brigade Nigerian Army, Brig. Gen. Abdu Ibrahim Hassan, had assured law abiding citizens in the area that the Brigade will do everything within its powers to protect their lives and property.