Notorious kidnapper, Henry Chibueze, more popularly known as, Vampire, who broke away from prison in January, has been killed by the police. The 30 ye
Notorious kidnapper, Henry Chibueze, more popularly known as, Vampire, who broke away from prison in January, has been killed by the police. The 30 year old met his demise in the wee hours of Thursday when operatives from the Special Intelligence Response Team, IRT, who were deployed to Imo State, by the IGP, Ibrahim Idris trailed him to his hideout in Omu-Awa forrest in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The notorious robber/kidnapper had escaped from prison custody on January 27, 2017, when some gunmen believed to be his gang members stormed the Owerri High Court in Imo State and rescued him, killing two persons and injuring many others in the process. Five other members of his gang have confessed to being behind his bloody rescue earlier in the year after they were arrested in the pre-dawn raid by operatives of the IRT led by Assistant Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari. The suspects also admitted to carrying out four kidnappings within Imo State and its environs after they rescued Vampire from prison custody.
Recall that the security community was thrown into confusion in January, following the successful rescue operation of Vampire, who was first arrested by men of Directorate of State Security, DSS in 2015 when he attempted to kidnap some Judges attached to the Imo State Electoral Tribunal. They were counter blames between officials of the Nigeria Prisons Service and other security agencies over the successful rescue of the suspect. A bounty of N5million was offered by the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, for any information that could led to his arrest, but Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, swiftly deployed his operatives from the IRT to track down the fleeing suspect.
That ‘Vampire’ was a notorious murderer would be putting it mildly. On the 16 of February 2013, Vampire stormed the home of his girlfriend, Sandra Ijedinma, at Igando area of Lagos State, with an AK47 assault rifle and opened fire on everyone present in the apartment, killing his girlfriend, her elder sister, Praise Ozor and her two children. Not satisfied, Henry proceeded to a nearby street where one of Sandra’s elder sisters resided and killed the woman and three of her children, before fleeing. But while the search for him went cold in Lagos, Henry, was said to have regrouped with his gang in Imo State and they coordinated several kidnappings in the South East and South South, where he kidnapped over 200 persons, killing most of his victims, including the wife of a royal father in Imo State and an official of the Imo State Environmental Transformation Commission.
However, luck ran out on him, when he attempted to kidnap the tribunal Judges, handling Election Petition in Imo State, at their lodge, in Disney Hotels, along Onitsha -Owerri Road. Operatives of the Department of State Security, DSS, acting on a tip-off swooped on him, but he managed to escape with bullet wounds. He was eventually apprehended at the house of his elder brother’s wife, in Ohafia, Abia State, where he had gone to treat himself. While in prison in February 2016, ‘Vampire’ was said to have convinced a servicing official of the Nigeria Prisons Service, in Owerri Prison, where he was being detained on awaiting trial and formed a new kidnap gang that could help him raise money for his bail. The prison official identified as Chukwuma Agim, assembled a six-man gang headed by a certain Chiboy also known as Eze Ekudele and they carried out several operations in Imo State.
In one of their operations, they abducted a middle-aged woman and got a ransom of N5million. After that operation, operatives of the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT), headed by ACP, Abba Kyari, rounded up five members of the gang, including the prison official in various parts of Imo State.
Vanguard
