SAN FRANCISCO, January 19, (THEWILL) – Ransom kidnap kingpin, Anthony Ogbalor (aka Dracula), is said to have died in the custody of the Delta State Police Command on Wednesday night owing to alleged severe torture by the anti-crime officials.
According to Thisday, security sources at the police command headquarters revealed that the Iyede, Isoko-born suspected kidnap gangster who was recently arrested by the police in Effurun in the Warri axis, was to be charged to court before he gave up the ghost under severe interrogation process at the command headquarters in Asaba.
The suspect, said to be closely associated with certain politicians in the state, eventually succumbed to consistent torture while in police custody as the security operatives allegedly tried hard to obtain useful information from him.
Ogbalor could not make it when he was eventually taken out for medical attention after his condition deteriorated and became critical.
However, the Delta State Police Command spokesman, Mr. Andrew Aniamaka, has denied reports suggesting that the suspect died in police custody
Aniamaka noted that Ogbalor was taken to an undisclosed hospital where he passed away, adding that where the suspect died was immaterial as death could occur anywhere.
“The suspect did not die in police custody; he died in the hospital. When his health became critical, he was taken out for treatment and died in the hospital where he was taking treatment,” he insisted.
“Death can occur anywhere whether in the hospital or even at home; but the suspect did not die in our custody.
“The the police were in the process of charging the suspect to court when his health condition took a turn for the worse, so he was taken to attend to hospital.”
According to the just transferred police commissioner, Mr Zanna Ibrahim, Ogbalor was arrested late December, 2017 over alleged offence of conspiracy, armed robbery and kidnapping alongside other gang members in a snatched navy blue Toyota Corolla car after being trailed driving along Enerhen road in Warri.
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