From Tony John, Port Harcourt
The Rivers State Police Command has arrested a suspected cultist who has been impersonating as a police Inspector in Rivers State.
The suspect, Fred Monday was paraded yesterday by the state Commissioner of Police Olatunji Disu.
Giving a graphic account on how the suspect was arrested, Disu said, “on August 9, 2024, at about 11.45 pm, operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit (AKU) of the police Command responded to an intelligence report of a criminal operation in Luegbo Community in Khana Local Government Area”.
He explained that when the police arrived the scene, they met with an ongoing gruesome cult initiation process.
Five suspects, later found to be students of the Ken Saro-Wiwa Polytechnics, Bori, were arrested and they confessed to being members of Vikings confraternity.
He said the student-cultists have been charged in Court and are presently in a correctional centre.
Disu continued that: “While carrying out the arrest of the five cultists, the police encountered a man with them, fully dressed in police camouflage and donning the rank of an Inspector of Police.
“He was armed with an AK-47 rifle, 10 magazines and 29 rounds of live ammunition. He was taken into custody and after interrogations, his identity was revealed as Fred Monday, a 31-year-old, from Wiyakara Community in Khana Local Government Area of the state and resident at F-man Close, Eneka Link Road, Port Harcourt.
“He confessed to being an impostor who bought the rifle in 2021 for N850,000 from an accomplice, Goodluck (aka Boy-J). He also bought 10 magazines, 31 rounds of ammunition and two hand grenades from the same accomplice.
“He confessed how he and other gang members would disguise as policemen to escort criminals operating in different states, including Akwa-Ibom, Edo, Delta and Rivers States.
“Fred Monday is a confessed member of the Iceland cult group and has been carrying out numerous crimes using the cover of being a policeman to terrorise his victims.
“Monday is also an armed robber who operated as a Keke (tricycle) rider during the day, scanning the area for possible victims to attack under the cover of the night”.
He said investigation was still ongoing as the police were getting closer to rounding up other members of his gang.
