By ERIC MOORE
RIVERS State Police Commissioner, CP Olatunji Disu, on Thursday, paraded one Fred Monday, a suspected cultist who has been impersonating as an Inspector in Nigeria Police.
Disu said on August 9, 2024, at about 11.45 pm, operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Rivers State Police Command responded to an intelligence report of a criminal operation in Luegbo Community in Khana Local Government Area.
He explained that on arriving at the scene, the Police 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: “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 Rivers 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 disclosed to the Police how he and other gang members would disguise as policemen to escort criminals to operate in different states, including Akwa-Ibom, Edo, Delta and Rivers States.
Disu stated that 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.
The state Police boss said Monday is also an armed robber who operates as a Keke (tricycle) rider during the day, scanning the area for possible victims to attack under the cover of night.
He further said investigation is still on as the Police are getting closer to rounding up other members of his gang.