How police officer who arrested kidnap guru was killed

Sergeant Lanre Sanusi was part of the dare-devil police squad that bore down on the Fred Shoboyejo home of kidnap kingpin Evans, one Saturday morning in June.

He wasn’t the head of the team. That honour belongs to CSP Abba Kyari who heads the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Nigeria Police Force.

They had been tracking Evans for years and when they eventually got hold of him, the police team gyrated and danced to Davido’s “30 billion 4 the account o” in Magodo; shooting into the air intermittently.

They had engaged Evans in a shootout before swooping on him and running handcuffs around him.

FEARLESS COP

Colleagues describe Sergeant Sanusi as a brave, if fearless police officer who took the maxim, 'obey the last order', to heart.

On Tuesday, November 14, 2017, news filtered in that Sanusi had been outgunned by kidnappersin Delta State during yet another operation.

It was a gun duel that would end his life and time in the police force. It would turn out his last operation as a cop.

In a statement, IRT head Kyari said “Sanusi was shot in a gun battle with the abductors of four British citizens in Delta State on Wednesday and died at noon on Friday”.

It was during a surgical operation to extract a bullet lodged in his stomach that Sanusi passed on.

Kyari also revealed that the kidnapper who shot Sanusi was also killed.

Two other kidnappers had been arrested earlier.

GALLANT OFFICER

"We pray that our gallant officer, who died in the line of duty, will rest in peace. May almighty God give his family the fortitude to bear the loss, Ameen," Kyari wrote in a statement.

Reports said Sergeant Sanusi seemed fine after the bullets lodged inside of him were removed, only to end up dead a few days later.

"It is really sad and painful altogether. We have not been able to tell his wife and other family members yet. This is the risk of the job we are talking about; we put our lives on the line for others, yet when it is time for promotion, one thing or the other will happen and the list will be kept in view," an unnamed colleague who expressed grief over Sanusi's death, was quoted as saying in the local press.

ALSO READ: Kidnap kingpin to answer to fresh charges in Lagos court

"Look at this now, Sergeant Lanre was one of the men that put his life on the line to arrest Evans and now he is dead. We don’t even know how to break the news to his wife and family. It is painful”, the anonymous officer added.

NO COMMENT

placed a phone call to the mobile of Lagos Police spokesperson, Famous Cole, for a reaction to Sanusi’s death, but he told us he wasn’t in the best position to comment on the officer’s death.

“I can’t comment on the story nor confirm his death because he doesn’t work under Lagos State police command. I have read the story online. You have to call the Force PRO in Abuja because the IRT is under the Inspector General of Police", Cole said.

Pulse subsequently rang Police Force PRO Jimoh Moshood following Cole’s suggestion, but he wouldn’t pick up.

A text message placed to Moshood’s mobile hadn’t been replied, five hours before this story was published.