Tamuno
A suspected cultist and kidnapper shocked newsmen on Friday when he
confessed that he had lost count of the number of persons he had killed
before his arrest by men of the Rivers State Police Command.
The suspect identified as Mitchel Tamuno, the leader of a cult
group, was apprehended by the police in connection with the alleged
kidnap on April 14 of a 14-old-old girl.
The girl (name withheld) was said to have been raped by her captors, including Mitchel before she eventually escaped from them.
Narrating why he was arrested by the police, Mitchel explained that
he was only involved in killing of members of rival cult groups and did
not shed “innocent blood”.
Mitchel, who insisted that he could no longer remember the number
of persons he had killed, stated that he purchased the four AK 47 rifles
used for operation by members of his cult group (Icelander) from one
Ifeanyi in Aba, Abia State.
He added that the guns were used to kill some members of rival cult
group (Greenlanders) so as to avenge the killing of members of his own
group.
Mitche, who promised to go back to his fish farming business if freed, said, “I
have never shed innocent blood. We only kill people that come to kill
us because we know the people we are fighting. The AK 47 rifles that
were recovered belong to us as a group. I bought them from one Mr.
Ifeanyi in Aba, Abia State. He sold the first two to us at N250,000 each
and the second batch of two for N280,000 each.
“We only have four guns in our possession. We use the guns to
fight our opponents. Our opponents are the Greenlanders and we fight for
supremacy. I have never killed anybody and cut the head. Those who
behead do so because they want the other group to feel the pain.
“When you come, you see your friend dead and without a head,
you feel the pain. The fight is not on a daily basis. When we get
information about them, we go after them and when they (rival cult
group) get information about us, they come after us too. I have lost
count of how many people I have killed because they all happened on
different occasions.”
A member of the gang, who gets information for the kidnap gang,
Godwin Pina, denied being a member of any cult group, but only gave
information on how to kidnap the 14-year-old girl.
Pina, a 23-year-old labourer, disclosed that the girl that was
kidnapped was her neighbour, adding that he became worried when he
learnt from the gang members that their victim had escaped.
“They (gang members) called me that the girl had run away. One
of my friends, who is at large (Bobo mi) informed me that the girl ran
away. I regret my action. Francis, Bobomi and Collins also kidnapped
Madam Lizzy.
“I am only involved in the kidnap of the girl, but I did not
take part in raping her. Mitchel is our number one man in our group,” Pina added while appealing to the police for forgiveness.
Speaking on the arrested men, the State Police Public Relations
Officer, Mr. Ahmad Muhammad, said Pina was arrested while he went to the
bank to withdraw the N50,000 their victim’s father paid into their
(kidnappers) account.
Muhammad explained that Pina was able to give the police
information that led to the arrest of Mitchel and other gang members,
adding that four AK 47 rifles were recovered in the course of
investigation.
He pointed out that the command would not relent in its
determination to arrest criminals in the state and bring them to book,
adding that the command in the month of April arrested 70 suspected
kidnappers, cultists and armed robbers.
Muhammad added that 25 suspects were killed during a shootout with
policemen while 11 AK 47 rifles and 17 assorted illicit firearms, 480
different calibres of ammunition were recovered from the suspected
criminals.
On how Mitchel’s gang’s victim was able to escape, he said the girl
escaped with a ladder she sighted within an uncompleted building where
she was held hostage, recalling that four of the kidnappers, who raped
her, were fast asleep when the victim escaped.
He said, “She (victim) then followed the sound of vehicles she
was hearing from the road and got to the main road, saw a man driving a
car, waved the car down and told the driver that she escaped from
kidnappers’ den.
“She appealed to the driver of the car to help her call her
father, who is a pastor in Bayelsa State. The Good Samaritan called the
father of the victim and told him the development and the father
directed the man to take her daughter to any nearby police station.
“Before then, the kidnappers had already put a call across to
the father of their victim, demanding for ransom of N10m. They equally
forwarded an account number detail to the victim’s father.
“One of the kidnapers (Godwin Pina) went to the bank
immediately he noticed that the sum of N50,000 had been paid into the
account for the upkeep of their victim, pending when the ransom demanded
would be raised.
"When the suspected was arrested, he then opened up that their
boss, Mitchel, was staying in Okrika. Then the Anti-kidnapping unit
moved to Abam in Okrika and arrested Mitchel and 10 other boys in his
house.
“Two AK 47 rifles were recovered from him. On interrogation, he
(Mitchel) said he had other two AK 47 rifles with one Iyalla Appolos
somewhere in Azubokwe. We moved in there and Iyalla was arrested and the
two AK 47 rifles were recovered from him,” Muhammad added.
Source: Punch
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