A 35- year- old man, Susaine Morgan has been remanded at the Yenagoa Correctional Centre by a magistrate court for allegedly attempting to assassinate the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (oil), Heineken Lokpobiri.
The suspect was also accused of unlawful possession of two AK–47 assault rifles at Ekeremor Town in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
The remand warrant issued by the state Commissioner of Police, Francis Idu and filed in court by police prosecutor, ASP Stella Jerry-Friday, was approved by the court on Monday, to allow the detention of the suspect for 30 days at the Okaka Correctional Service Centre.
The remand is to pave the way for the police investigators to arrest six other fleeing suspects connected to the alleged assassination plan.
It was further learnt that the request for the remand of the suspect was done due to the limited power of the police to continue the detention of the suspect without an order of court.
The prosecution said seven suspects had gained entry into the country home of the Lokpobiri on New Year Day and hid among the crowd of visitors.
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“But information filtered to the armed military men that some persons were armed and dangerous among the visitors. Due to the large crowd, the soldiers, who could not open fire, ordered everyone to lie down. It was only the arrested suspect, who was with the bag conveying the weapons that got arrested.
“Others mixed up with the panicked crowd and escaped. They started shooting inside the community and attacked a filling station in anger and made away with sum of N400, 000.
“They also invaded the Ekeremor Town water front and snatched a speed boat to escape,” ASP Jerry-Friday informed the court.
The police prosecutor also told the court that the arrested suspect had made useful statement about the identity of the other fleeing suspects, adding that the police were already on their trail.
