The State Security Service (SSS) yesterday paraded first militant head and leader of Okoloma Ikpangi cult group of Bonny, 29 year old Orinanemi Hart who admitted to having in his arsenal[b] 15 General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMG), 70 AK47 rifles, 34 Blank Maria, four Rocket Propelled Grenade Launchers and several pistols[/b].


Also paraded on the same day with the boy who has been terrorizing users of the Bonny waterways were five security men employed by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to secure their facilities stole crude and other products by tampering with the facilities

The high profile arrests and confessions of the suspects on the roles they played may have been linked to the relative calm which Rivers State is enjoying as crime wave has nosedived.
The fair complexioned and youthful looking Hart did not deny his role in some activities outside the law but insisted that they set up his group to fight against politicians and the monarch of Bonny Kingdom who cornered everything that should have benefitted everybody in the community.

Asked why he resorted to arms, he replied, “Ah, we have to use arms because if you just agitate for your right like that without guns the Nigeria army will just kill you like that. We had to fight since everything that government brings to our place is cornered by the Chairman of the Council and the Amayanabo”.

When he was taken up on the various attacks and bank robberies , eh easily admitted to carrying them out but refuted the allegation that he collected any ransom to free any hostage. He rather claimed that when he was away and his boys numbering over 180 kidnapped an expatriate, he went straight and released him without ransom.

He admitted attacking and destroying the palace of the Amayanabo, HRH Edward Asimini Pepple and the Marine Police post on March 1, 2008; attack on soldiers in Bonny Waterfront beach on March 2008 ; and attack on Nigerian Ports Authority Jetty (NPA) in April 2008.
Also, he admitted that his group masterminded the robbery of Ecobank at Bonny Island on August, 2008; attack on soldiers on patrol, which led to the death of some soldiers while they took two of their gunboats on August 8, 2008 and attack on MV Lamnalco Waxbill and abduction of one Charles Omagbemi, a staff of Lamnalco offshore on January 20, 2009 and kidnap of Popa Nicholas, a Romanian on January 21, 2009.

He however amended his statement before newsmen at the headquarters of the SSS by claiming that he was not personally involved in kidnapping though his boys did and added they had a noble objective of maintaining peace within the Bonny domain and ensure that anything that was due their people were given.

“I am into oil and condensate business so I cannot kidnap. I even freed the ones that I knew they held without collecting any ransom. Me I am into bunkering and not kidnapping. I was not even around when my boys kidnapped the people on MV Lamnalco”.
He said there was a time Egberi Papa, the arrested militant who masterminded the kidnap of Mrs. Seinye Lulu-Briggs came to Bonny and kidnapped some expatriates and “I asked him to return the person and why he should operate in our territory like that, he refused and I went with my boys, destroyed his camp and freed the hostage who we released free of charge”.

He pleaded that “I was the person who identified myself because I don’t like to continue fighting soldiers. When they arrested my second in command, they did not know that I was the leader but I told them that I am the one. They should consider my boys and set them free even if they will not free me but I think we can work together for peace”.

John who was involved in kidnapping also admitted that he was involved but that it was an in-law, one Thompson Wokaran. The SSS said they were involved in the kidnap of Robertson Preston the Scottish national that works for ADAMAC.
Some of the members of the kidnap gang listed as Irisee, Odie, Sir Don, Ikpititeme and Welee, all who operate with aliases are still at large though the security said they are on their trail.

The other security men who turned illegal bunkerers are [b]Damiete ThankGod, Opirtei Gbasine Horsefall Bobo Orubo Tito Horsefall, Boma Nicholas Horsefall and Asitoa Sokari Chima were employed at Horsefall Ama in Buguma, Rivers State but were caught vandalizing the facility and siphoning products. Some of them pleaded their innocence, claiming that they were in the same boat going back to town when they were arrested and did not participate in the illegal business. [/b] The SSS said they were handing them over to the police for prosecution as they have finished debriefing them on their involvement in the activities for which they were arrested.
According

more evidence that the militants are  criminals.