'Our leader shot pregnant woman in the private part' - Gang member confess

A member of a deadly eight-man armed robbery gang, Johnson Aikko, aka, Stigma, arrested by detectives attached to the Special Intelligence Response Team (SIRT), set up by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase, has narrated how their gang leader known as Denis Avaughwa, aka Ava, shot a pregnant woman in her private part during one of their raids in a house in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

Akiko added that apart from shooting the heavily pregnant woman, Ava also shot the woman's husband on his two legs and that the other gang members fought with their leader and questioned why he had to shoot the woman even after they had robbed the family of their valuables.

Aikko also told the operatives that sometime in 2015, his gang, while escaping after a robbery operation, stumbled on a six Fulani herdsmen sleeping and opened fire on them, killing them all.

According to the members of the gang, were supplied weapons by a prison official and a policeman, after their arrest led to the discovery of three AK47 rifles and four revolvers.

Akiko recollected how the woman was killed in the most horrific way by Ava in November, 2015, when the gang raided the Supper Cell Estate, a highbrow area in Apo, in the FCT.

Hear him:

“I don’t know what came over Ava that night. It was as if he took drugs. We saw a pregnant woman in the first apartment we entered. We demanded for money. But it was clear she was consumed with fear.

Ava screamed at her. She brought N150, 000 in N500 denomination. She handed the money to me. Before I knew what was happening, Ava opened fire on the woman. He shot into her private part.  I was stunned. He went on to shoot the woman’s husband. The woman’s husband lost two of his legs.”

Akiko also noted that aside from the pregnant lady and her husband, a middle-aged woman, Glory Uzoh, who recently moved to Abuja, from Lagos State, was shot in her abdomen and arm. The bullet perforated her abdomen and burst out of her back. Uzoh was said to have miraculously survived because the bullet narrowly missed her intestines.

The police said that Ava is a notorious robber, who had been arrested twice for robbery and remanded in Kuje Prison in Abuja.

“Ava formed a new gang in 2014 after he regained his freedom. The gang operated with three AK47 rifles and four locally made revolver rifles. They’ve carried out several high profile robberies around residential estates in Abuja.

They used to cart away cash, exotic cars, jewelries, laptops and mobile phones during operations. The gang murdered six Fulani Herdsmen who they accosted in a bush while escaping after a robbery in Lugbe, Abuja.

They sighted the herdsmen sleeping and opened fire on them. They killed all of them at the spot.  Ava ordered the killing of the herdsmen in retaliation for their activities in his state, which is Benue.”

The eight robbers, including their receiver, financier and arms supplier were arrested, including Ibrahim Suleiman, aka, Scorpion, Aikko, Pius Gabriel, aka Double Spirit, Rabo Yakubu(arms supplier), Oladimeji Ikotun, (alleged receiver and financier), Umaru Nda, Matthew Ofe, Nicodemus  Shittu,Ogbona Chidubem, aka 102 and the gang leader, Ava.

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