Indications have emerged the mastermind of the January 1, killings in Omoku, Rivers State, Don Waney, was killed in a combined security operations in Enugu State.
The Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, 6 Division, Port Harcourt, Aminu Iliyasu, made this known on Sunday.
Mr. Iliyasu, a colonel, in a statement, formally announced the killing of Mr. Waney and his two lieutenants during a shootout on Saturday evening.
The NEXT EDITION had earlier reported the death of the notorious cult leader and kidnap kingpin based on information from the locals.
But the Army spokesperson said the Rivers State command of the State Security Service (SSS), tracked Mr. Waney and his accomplices to a neighbourhood in Enugu town.
According to him, after the massacre in Omoku on the New Year day, the notorious killer, escaped to his hideout in Enugu State and lived with unsuspected neighbours.
“From the relative safety of his newly-rented apartment, Don Waney was already perfecting plans to wrought another mayhem in Omoku in which he was to attack churches, schools, Army and Police locations and the residences of the generality of the already traumatized people of Omoku,” Mr. Iliyasu said.
“However, following his successful geo-location to his new Enugu neighbourhood hideout by the DSS Rivers State Command, a combined team of troops of 82 Division Nigerian Army Enugu and personnel of DSS Rivers State command raided the hideout to arrest him and his other accomplices.
“Incidentally on sensing that the combined team were closing in on his residence, Don Waney, his second- in- command, Ikechukwu Adiele and another gang member, Lucky Ode, attempted to escape through the back exit of the apartment and were shot down by the eagle-eyed troops in the process.
“One of them died on the spot while the other two who sustained gunshot wounds eventually died while being evacuated for medical attention.
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“The remains of Don Waney and his cohorts were brought back to Port Harcourt Rivers State by the combined team and handed over to the Rivers State Police Command for further action,” the Army spokesperson said.
The Army expressed its condolences to the families who lost loved ones in atrocities caused by the notorious gangster and urged Omoku people to give useful information that could lead to the arrest of the remaining members of the killer gang.
On Monday, November 20, 2017, troops of 6 Division Nigerian Army acting on a tip-off raided Don Waney enclave in Omoku, in Rivers State.
During the raid, the troops discovered a stockpile of assorted weapons, dynamites, bags of cannabis, full military camouflage uniforms, military boots, military communication radios, 10 human skulls and human bones.
With journalists as witnesses, the military on November 21, 2017, exhumed decomposing bodies of some of Mr. Waney’s victims in a shrine.
After the military’s invasion of his shrine and hideout, Mr. Waney and his gang men fled the area.
They, however, returned with his gang at about 1.30am on December 1 and gunned down 23 persons who were returning from cross-over service in Omoku.
The killings sparked an outrage across the country and resulted in President Muhammadu Buhari issuing an order to security agencies to arrest the perpetrators of the killings.
