Five months after Justice Ebiyerin Omukoro was abducted in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, operatives of the Inspector General’s Violent Crime Response Unit have arrested another prime suspect in the case.

The suspect, 39-year-old Ogbonna-Otu Emizibo Dennis, also known as “Ogbono,” is from Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, the same LGA as the judge.

According to the Bayelsa State Police Command, intelligence officers kept his residence under surveillance for over five months before his arrest at a popular eatery in Yenagoa. Justice Omukoro reportedly identified him during a suspect parade.

Evidence recovered by investigators linked Dennis to the crime through an old-model white Toyota Hilux believed to have been used to block the judge’s car during the June 21, 2025, abduction.

Dennis claimed he had returned the vehicle to its owner, a retired Brigadier General, after a driving job.

However, a close family member told police he was in possession of the Hilux at the time of the kidnapping.

Police also identified Dennis as the owner of a house on School Road, Edepie, allegedly used as a planning base by the gang.

The same location was reportedly used in the earlier abduction of Aladei God Save, owner of Ruth More Hotel.

During the operation, led by CSP Chris Nwaogbo, officers recovered a motorcycle from Dennis’s compound.

The motorcycle is allegedly owned by dismissed police Sergeant Obrientele Ebiarede, who remains wanted.

Investigators say it was used to deliver food and supplies to victims at the kidnappers’ camp in the Orkaki bush, along the Rivers-Bayelsa boundary.

Recall that Justice Omukoro, a Bayelsa State High Court judge, was kidnapped by masked gunmen at Kilimanjaro eatery in Ekeki, Yenagoa, on June 21, 2025.

He was held for 12 days and released unharmed on July 3, 2025. So far, police have arrested eight suspects.

Most were apprehended in Ekeremor, and some confessed they did not initially target the judge but held him after stumbling upon him.

A senior police officer credited the breakthrough to support from Commissioner of Police Daniel Iyamah and IGP Olatunji Rilwan Disu.

The case file has been transferred to the Department of Public Prosecution. Prosecutors are reviewing a police recommendation to invoke Section 7 of the Bayelsa State Kidnapping and Allied Offences Law, 2013, which allows for the temporary forfeiture of the suspect’s property pending trial