A suspected kidnap kingpin from Ukanafun Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom State was Monday killed in the area by a detachment of soldiers, policemen and State Security operatives.
He is Akaninyene Jumbo Uko also known as Isoakpafid from Ikot Ibekwe village in the area.
Uko was declared wanted by the Akwa Ibom State Police Command in October 2017 for his ignoble involvement in a series of kidnappings and killings in the area.
The notorious kidnapper was killed in his hideout in Onicha Ngwa local government area, Abia State by security operatives and the corpse was displayed at Ukanafun local government headquarters, Ikot Akpa Nkuk before it was moved to the state police headquarters in Ikot Akpan Abia, Uyo Local Government Area and then to the mortuary.
For the past two years, most villages in Ukanafun Local Government Area have been under siege due to the notoriety of the robbery and kidnap kingpin and his gang.
More than 1,000 persons have been killed while at least 100 persons mostly teachers and civil servants in the area have been kidnapped by the gang.
Efforts to reach the military commander in-charge of the operation were unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, two members of Isoakpafid gang killed on Tuesday were Aniebet Udoh said to be his second-in-command and Thankgod Friday who was the spiritualist to the kidnap kingpin.
Some other members of the gang escaped with gunshot wounds.
The details of the feat by the Army was made known in a statement by Major Umar Shuaib, the Assistant Director, Public Relations of the 2 Brigade Nigerian Army, Uyo.
Shuaib said the two members of the gang were killed following a tip-off.
He said the troops invaded the hideout of the remaining gang members at Ikpe Village in Etim Ekpo Local government area on Tuesday and engaged the hoodlums at1:30 a.m.
The spokesman said items recovered by the troops included one pump action gun, two locally made short guns, 13 live cartridges, eight expended cartridges, two dane guns and two cutlasses.
He said the corpses of the two persons had been deposited at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital mortuary
It would be recalled that the culprits had been terrorising the people of Ukanafun Local government area of Akwa Ibom State, killing, maiming and raping.
The cult members were responsible for the killing of two Nigerian Police personnel and a truck driver in Ukanafun local government area on November 17, last year.
They also masterminded the killing of the ex-commissioner’s sister and two others in Ikot Oku Usung village in Ukanafun local government area on November 19, 2017.
In the statement by the spokesman, Brigadier-General Abdu Ibrahim Hassan, the Commander, 2 Brigade Nigerian Army, was quoted to have assured law abiding citizens in the area that the Brigade would do everything within its powers to protect their lives and properties.
