This weekly update spotlights the prevalence of organized criminal violence in the Niger Delta. Organized criminality including clashes between cult gangs, kidnap for ransom, and targeted killing of government security personnel by criminals is becoming increasingly prevalent in the region. According to data (see map above), criminal violence caused over a thousand fatalities in the Niger Delta between January 2020 and October 2023. Recent data shows the prevalence of criminal violence in the region. In November 2023, for instance, four children of the same parents were allegedly kidnapped on their way to school in Umuagu community in Umuahia North LGA, Abia State. Also, in November, gunmen reportedly killed a Deputy Superintendent of Police in Asaba, the Delta state capital. In December, gunmen allegedly ambushed a convoy, killed four soldiers and two civilian drivers, and abducted two South Korean expatriates along the East-West Road in Ahoada East LGA, Rivers State. More recently, on December 14, 2023, a 42-year-old man was reportedly killed by members of a cult gang in Benin City, the Edo state capital.