The Imo State Police Command has confirmed the death of retired Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Kingsley Woke, 56, who was gunned down in a brazen attack on Saturday night 6 December 2025.
The incident, which also left other motorists abducted, has sparked a multi-agency manhunt as authorities link it to a notorious kidnapping syndicate recently exposed in the area.
Woke, a respected officer who most recently served as DC Courses at the Police Staff College in Jos, was en route from Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to Umuahia, Abia State, when armed hoodlums ambushed his vehicle around 11:00 p.m. on December 7.
The attack unfolded near Amala Autonomous Community, just beyond Zion Ministry Church along Port Harcourt Road in Ngor-Okpala Local Government Area. Struck by a bullet to the chest, Woke—a native of Omuowu in Ikwerre LGA, Rivers State—succumbed to his injuries shortly after.
His personal effects, secured at the nearest police outpost for investigation, were released to his grieving sister, Mrs. Hope Woke, who formally identified and claimed the body on Monday. “He was a dedicated servant of the nation, taken too soon on a routine journey,” she told reporters outside the station, her voice breaking.
The assault bears the hallmarks of the criminal networks plaguing the Airport-Owerri-Aba corridor. Just hours before the shooting, Imo Police operatives raided a hotel and private mortuary in Ngor-Okpala, unearthing evidence of a syndicate led by suspected kingpin High Chief Stanley Oparaugo, alias “Morocco.”
The gang allegedly used the sites for kidnappings, ransom extractions, and gruesome organ harvesting, following weeks of intelligence gathering under Commissioner CP Aboki Danjuma. Sources indicate Woke’s killing may be retaliatory, as the bust disrupted operations along the same route.
Tactical teams from the police, in tandem with federal security agencies, local vigilantes, and community hunters, have launched intensified bush combing and roadblocks.
