In May 2001, the Anambra state police command launched the Operation Derico which was aimed at capturing Derico and his gang members at all cost. Some of Derico’s men were arrested in the police offensive, but Dericoa was still elusive as he kept operating with reckless abandon, robbing, killing and kidnapping innocent Nigerians.
Some arrested members of Derico’s gang
With the police and other security forces unable to bring Derico Nwamama and his terror regime to a close, the onus fell on the Bakassi Boys, the militant wing of the Anambra Vigilante Services (AVS), a local vigilante group set up to curb crime and criminality in the Sout East.
The group also know as the Bakassi Boys, were at the forefront of the hunt and capture of Derico Nwamama. On Tuesday, July 3, 2001, the reportedly invisible Derico was nabbed on his way to Onitsha from Agbor, ostensibly on one of his missions.
Bakassi boys made a great show of Derico’s arrest, parading round Onitsha with rapturous applause, and cheers of the many who for too long had been oppressed.
There were requests by the Nigerian police to have Derico handed into their custody, however, it all proved abortive, as the Bakassi boys served justice to the criminal in their jungle justice style.
Derico was beheaded in an open square, with the Bakassi boys rendering a performance like non had ever seen before within the eastern region where they operated.
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