The police in Cross River State said one of its personnel, Corporal Kingsley Iyeke, killed another policeman, Inspector Edet Archibong, during a gun duel between the police and suspected cultists in Calabar.
Mr Jimoh Ozi-Obeh, the Commissioner of Police in the state, made this known on Monday in Calabar while briefing newsmen on the activities of the command in the past one month.
The commissioner said that after the incident, the police swung into action by tracing the cultists to their hideout where some of them were arrested.
He explained that during interrogation, one of the suspected cultists mentioned Iyeke as their member “and that he was the one that shot the police inspector during the clash’’.
“It would be recalled that we lost one of our inspectors last month during an exchange of fire with some cultists here in Calabar.
“Majority of the suspects have been arrested. Our front line interrogation shows that one of our personnel, Corporal Kingsley Iyeke, was one of the cultists.
“After interrogating one of the arrested cultists, he confessed that Iyeke was their member and that he was the one that shot the inspector.
“During our trial, we found out that truly he was their member. We have dismissed him and he will face the full wrath of the law,’’ he said.
Iyeke, 35, from Rivers, was attached to the Marine Police base in Calabar.
Responding to questions from newsmen, Iyeke denied being a member of any cult group, saying that he was only being set up by the suspected cultists.
The commissioner said that the command also rescued a 16-year-old kidnap victim, who was kidnapped in Ibadan on November 7 and brought to Calabar the following day.
He said that the minor, a student of St. Barnabas Academy at Daramola Street in Ibadan, was abducted on his way to school.
He explained that the command had got across to the Oyo State Police Command with a view to safely hand over the boy to them and be re-united with his family.
Ozi-Obeh said that the police nabbed 10 suspected criminals in connection with various crimes in the state.
