Rita Enemuru, Reporting
WARRI — In a pair of lightning strikes that have rattled the underworld across Delta State and beyond, police operatives have arrested five suspected kidnappers and gun-runners, recovering two AK-47 rifles and thirty-six rounds of live ammunition in back-to-back operations.
The first breakthrough came shortly after nightfall on 24 April 2026. Acting on intelligence gathered over several days, officers from the Ughelli-based tactical team swooped on the Ekuigbo area of Ughelli at roughly 6.30pm. There, they arrested 22-year-old Ahmadu Usman, a native of Lafiya in Nasarawa State, who they believe is linked to a kidnapping gang that has been terrorising commuters along the notorious Ughelli–Warri Road.
That arrest proved to be the thread that unravelled a far wider conspiracy. Under interrogation, Usman led detectives to a trailer park along the Warri–Sapele Road, where 37-year-old Haruna Abdullahi was taken into custody. Concealed among the vehicles was an AK-47 rifle, already loaded with thirty-six rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition. Both suspects are now in police custody as investigations continue.
Just one day earlier, in a carefully coordinated sting operation on 23 April, the same tactical unit had netted another suspect in Ughelli — a key player in an inter-state gun-running and kidnapping network. That arrest brought with it Haruna Jibrin, a 30-year-old native of Wase in Plateau State, who police say was tasked with moving weapons from Ughelli down to Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Not content to stop there, officers pushed on. On 24 April, a follow-up operation in Rivers State led to the arrest of a third accomplice, Isiyaku Adamu, aged 38. This time, the intended prize was seized as well: another AK-47 rifle, along with a blue Toyota Corolla bearing registration number MUS 138 DJ, which was used to facilitate the illegal arms movement.
Delta State’s Commissioner of Police, CP Yemi Oyeniyi, psc, acipm, mnips, struck a characteristically firm tone last night. Speaking through the command’s spokesman, SP Bright Edafe, he reiterated that the force has “zero tolerance for kidnapping and illegal arms trafficking” and assured law-abiding residents that sustained operations would continue to guarantee public safety.
For those who travel the Ughelli–Warri Road — a stretch that has seen more than its fair share of highway robberies and abduction scares — the news of these arrests will come as a rare measure of relief. Whether the latest operations truly disrupt the supply chain of weapons into the region, however, remains a question only further rounds of interrogation can answer.
One thing is certain: the police command in Asaba is making it abundantly clear that the Delta underworld is firmly in its crosshairs.
