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Tag: Armed robbers

  • Police nab two suspected armed robbers, recover gun in Enugu

    The Police Command in Enugu State has arrested two suspected armed robbers and also cult members in Oji River axis of the state.

    The command’s Spokesman, SP Ebere Amaraizu, said in a statement in Enugu on Friday that the two suspects were arrested on July 30.

    Amaraizu said that police operatives recovered a locally made gun with two live cartridges from the suspects.

    He said that the feat was achieved by police operatives of the Oji River Division of the command through intelligence information.

    “One of the suspects who gave his name as Samuel Onyia, a resident of Ugwunzu in Oji River, disclosed that he is a member of JVC confraternity.

    “Following his arrest and the revelation, one Chigozie Agunwichie, also a member of JVC confraternity, was nabbed.

    “Onyia was caught with the gun and live cartridges while a manhunt for other fleeing members of the gang had been intensified,’’ he said.

    Amaraizu said that the duo had been helping police operatives in their investigation.

  • Armed robbers invade community

    About 20 vehicles were vandalised at Ilori Street in Ire-Akari, Isolo, Lagos Mainland after suspected armed robbers invaded the area.

    The incident occurred between 2am and 3am on Saturday.

    It was gathered that the robbers, said to be armed with guns and cutlasses, scaled the street’s fence and tied up the security guard.

    They were said to have proceeded from compound to compound, vandalising vehicles and carting away valuables.

    According to a resident, the robbers removed vehicles’ brain boxes, musical sets, dash boards and others.

    He said: “At least 13 vehicles were vandalised on the street. They carried out the act between 2am and 3am. Most of the vehicles vandalised were Toyota and Lexus.

    “The criminals took brain boxes, dashboards, stereo and CD sets or reverse cameras.

    “They also damaged the door handles and took the censors away. We did not know until morning. The robbery surprised us because it is the first time this is happening here.

    “We went to Ire-Akari Police Station to report. The security man was invited for questioning but he was later released. He said the robbers tied him up when they jumped the fence.”

    When our correspondent visited the street yesterday, a hairdresser, who refused to be named, said the residents were suspecting insider connivance.

    She said some believed that the night guard might have connived with the robbers, considering that he did not raise the alarm after the robbers left.

    “The guard only comes at night. The residents are suspecting he might have worked with the robbers because he did not alert them. It was when they woke up in the morning that people saw their damaged vehicles. Some of the vehicles were parked on the street, others were parked inside compound. I do not know where the vehicles are now. I do not live on the street.”

    Similarly, a gang of four armed robbers on Saturday morning attacked the General Manager, Island Club, Mr. Olubunmi Fasan, and two of his workers, Funsho Adewuyi and Akeem.

    It was gathered that the robbers accosted the trio around the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) Zone II headquarters, Onikan.

    According to Fasan, they were attacked around 4:45am, while on their way home from work.

    The victims, The Nation gathered, worked late on Friday and resolved to stay in the office till around 4:45am so that they could go home and prepare for the day’s business.

    But as soon as they made their way to the bus park, the robbers, said to have driven a saloon car, pulled over and surrendered them with a pistol and matchet.

    Fasan said: “I was coming from the office at about 4:45am accompanied by two other men-Alhaji Funsho Adewuyi, an employee of Island Club and Akeem. We were at Onikan roundabout enroute Obalende when three armed men accosted us. They were inside a car. The driver did not come down.

    “We were stopped and before we realised what was happening, they brought out guns and matchet popularly known as UTC and we were asked to surrender all our valuables. They took our wristwatches, money, mobile phone, documents and wallets.

    “They collected all and ran back into the waiting vehicle and zoomed off. Alhaji Adewuyi was injured on the hand by the robbers when he tried to resist the robbers.

    “We had to return to the office because we were stranded. There should be constant police patrol, coverage of the area from 12am to 6am. This is because people who visit the social clubs around the vicinity leave at wee hours and they could be easy prey for hoodlums and societal miscreants otherwise known as ‘area boys.”

    Lagos police spokesman Chike Oti, a Superintendent (SP), said the command was investigating a  case of conspiracy between security men attached to gate of Ilori Street and hoodlums who invaded, adding that  some arrests have been and investigation was currently ongoing.

    He said the Onikan attacked was not reported at the station, but assured that actions would be taken.

  • Abia: Police parades cultists, armed robbers

    Abia State Police Command on Monday in Umuahia, Abia State capital paraded suspected cultists, armed robbers and others accused to be involved in snatching cars of their victims at gun points.

    The State Police Commissioner, Anthony Ogbizi told journalists that the suspects were arrested in different parts of the state through intelligence report, while others were arrested at the scene of the crime.

    Leader (Capo) of the Black Axe confraternity, Princewill Okechukwu, a final year student of Political Science in ABSU was also among the people that were paraded by the Police Commissioner.

    The Police Commissioner added that the suspects would be arraigned in court as soon as investigation was concluded.

    A female cultist and final year student of Political Science at Abia State University, ABSU, Uturu, 22 year old Chika Ogwalachi reportedly confessed that she was arrested in the vicinity of an initiation exercise in one of the student lodges off the campus by a cult group.

    Ogwalachi who was paraded with two other male members of the same fraternity said her boyfriend who also is a cult member had asked her to wait for him at the scene of the initiation before her arrest.

    She further explained that while waiting for her boyfriend, one of the boys gave her a parcel which the boyfriend reportedly asked her to collect and keep for him.

    According to her, she didn’t know that the parcel contained Indian hemp. This is even as she denied having knowledge that the boyfriend was a cult member.

    “We just met recently and he promised that because of me he will leave the cult. It was while I was waiting that the police came out and asked what I was doing there.

    “I told them that I was waiting for my boyfriend. They seized my bag, searched it and found the parcel. They unwrapped it and saw it was hemp. That was how they arrested me,” she said.

    Also paraded was 23 year old final year student of History and International Relations, Salvation Chialu. He confessed that he was arrested during initiation. He said that while the other older cult members escaped he was caught by the police.

    Chialu, a native of Awkuzu, Anambra State said he was tricked into cult by people who came to him as friends. “I was buying something for them to keep them at bay but three days after my exam as I was packing my clothes, they came into my room and ordered me to follow them.

    “When I saw the fierce look on the face of one of them I hesitated then he used a machete and cut my hand.” He however failed to connect the attack with the initiation angle.

    Okechukwu told newsmen that he was arrested in the exam hall while writing his final examination.

    He admitted that he was the leader for only two weeks but that those opposed to his emergence as the new leader planned his arrest.

    He said he was aware that the items recovered from his room were dangerous weapons which they use for cult activities.

    Okechukwu, from Isuikwuato council area of Abia state, admitted that seven live cartridges, a dagger, a machete and Black Axe black and red uniform were recovered from him.

    Also paraded was Uchenna Okorocha. Okorocha who said that he was arrested when the police searched his house in Aba following the report of his master’s brother.

    Okorocha  said he spent his masters money on MMM and other gambling engagements but when he could not give proper account of pay back after stock taking his masters brother invited the police to arrest him with the aim of recovering the money.

     

  • Police recover assorted weapons from 22 suspected criminals in Niger

    No fewer than 22 criminals including armed robbers, kidnappers, cattle rustlers were yesterday paraded by the police in Niger State.

    Recovered from the suspects were three AK49 rifles, ten AK47 rifles, 20 pump action rifles, two double-barreled gun, 20 locally made guns,one locally-made revolver pistol using AK47 ammunition,184 AK47 ammunition, one  Peugeot 407 saloon car stolen from a member of the, Federal House of Representatives.

    Parading the suspects at Sabon Wuse, Niger State, the Force Public Relations Officers, Jimoh Moshood disclosed that the suspects were arrested in various parts of Niger, Kaduna, Nasarawa and Zamfara ‘’for kidnapping, armed robbery, murder, car snatching, cattle rustling and unlawful possession of prohibited firearms.’’

  • Police arrest 18 suspected armed robbers, cultists in Bayelsa

    OPERATIVES of Bayelsa State Police Command have arrested 10 suspected cultists and eight suspected armed robbers during various operations across the state. The command also recovered one AK47 riffle, sevenlocally made pistols, four locally-made single-barrelled guns, a stolen saloon car, three cutlasses, eight live cartridges, cannabis and packets of tramadol. Parading the suspects and the recovered items, the state’s Commissioner of Police, Mr. Don Awunah, said the feat was achieved following his decision to flag off, Operation Safer Bayelsa, immediately he assumed office few weeks ago. Awunah fingered cultism as a driving force for most criminal activities in the state explaining that cultism permeated the ranks of misguided youths and induced them to engage in criminality.

    He identified the major cult groups operating in the state as Icelanders, Greenlanders, Bobos, De Bam, De Well, Black Axe and the Vikings. He said the command had recorded huge successes in its war against cultism following a newly created Anti-Cultism Unit at the State Crime Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID). He disclosed that a crack team of the police foiled an attempt by three cultists, Gospel Peter; Chijioke Egi and Felix Obeni to initiate one Henry Chukwu at Igbogene area of the state. The police chief said that youths of Ologi community in collaboration with the police nabbed Joe Gilbert, Moses Look-Me and James Okafor, terrorising the community.

  • Suspects held by Abia police

    Suspects held by Abia police

    The Abia State Commissioner of Police (CP) Michael Ogbizi has paraded three gangs of suspected armed robbers, kidnappers and child traffickers said to have been terrorising the state for a long time.

    Speaking while parading the suspects in Umuahia, the state capital, Ogbizi said that one of the gangs allegedly led by Stanley Ifeanyi was arrested in Aba, the state’s commercial hub, with police uniforms, police bulletproof vest, AK 47 rifle, one single-barrel gun, and one locally made pistol, among others.

    Ogbizi said that the gang has been terrorising the people of Aba for a long time and that the police had been on their trail.

    He said that the command is out to arrest people of such character and make the state free for people to come in and invest, assuring the residents of their security and safety of their property at all times.

    When The Nation questioned Ifeanyi, he said that he bought the police materials from one police man at Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, at the cost N20,000.

    “I have never robbed with police uniform before but I bought them to use them to rob,” Ifeanyi said.

    The next gang the CP paraded was said to be the which waylaid the family of Mr James Kwubiri Okpara, the state commissioner for Housing while on their way back from a trip abroad.

    Ogbizi said that the robbers robbed them of all their valuables, “Since the incident we have been after them as we are determined to ensure that armed robbery and such incidents are completely reduced to the barest minimum in the state”.

    He said that the three-man gang waylaid the commissioner’s family and had been terrorising the people of Abayi and Osisioma areas of Aba.

    “With the arrest of this notorious gang of armed robbers, the residents of these areas can now sleep with their two eyes closed,”Ogbizi said.

    The Abia police boss also paraded a notorious child trafficker known simply as Nma, who has been under police surveillance for years now, saying that when the police raided her place that 13 underage pregnant girls were rescued.

    Ogbizi said that the girls were in various stages of pregnancy and were malnourished, stressing that since their rescue the state government in conjunction with the police have been taking care of their feeding and medical bills.

    He said that Nma would be charged for murder, child trafficking and kidnapping, “She may have been evading arrest and prosecution for a long time but this time it will no longer be business as usual as she will be made to face the full wrath of the law”.

    In her reaction, Nma said that she has been running a maternity home at her Isiala Ngwa North council area for the past seven years and denied selling children born in her maternity.

    Nma said that she is a registered nurse and those girls are always brought to her place by those who want to help them, “Whenever they come I always ask them to bring their guardians before they are taken in”.

    The CP also recovered a Volkswagen Golf car with the registration number AQ 26-UMA which was snatched from its owner among other items such as Plasma TV and others.

  • Sokoto: Police arrest notorious robbery suspects, illicit drug sellers

    Sokoto: Police arrest notorious robbery suspects, illicit drug sellers

    The Sokoto state police command on Wednesday confirmed the arrest of three of a gang of six suspected notorious armed robbers terrorising people and residents in and around Bodinga in Sokoto state.

    Similarly, the command said it recovered from the gang among others; 2 locally made pistols, 1 AK47 rifle with two live cartridges, matchet, sticks, 1 hintch bar and knife.

    Those arrested include: Ali Abubakar (22), Ahmed Abubakar (27) and Nafi’u Umar (24) while those at large are: Kirwa, Abubakar and Jammo.

    Parading the suspects while briefing newsmen, the Command’s PPRO, ASP Cordelia Nweke said the gang which has been terrorising the area in the last five years led by Ahmed Abubakar said to be from Kwara were arrested on February 8, 2018 after storming the premises of one Alhaji Bello of Saketa village and robbed him of unspecified huge amount of money.

    “Nafi’u Umar is their pointer who leaks information to the gang for operations in Saketa village. He received N1.2m as his share of the loot.

    “Ahmed Abubakar who was roaming the town of Tureta with deep cut in his right hand  was intercepted by our men on patrol and could not give reasonable explanation when questioning and was suspected to be an armed robber.

    Similarly, the command’s spokesperson confirmed the arrest of four of a gang of six robbers in a separate raid on Februray 9, 2018 and recovered a dane gun from them.

    According to her, they attacked and demanded N3 million from their victim, Alhaji Abubakar Umaru of Kuringa village in Yabo local government of Sokoto state.

    “They also stole his Kasea motocycle valued at N250, 000 and raped his wife. Already three suspects are in custody and have confessed to the crime

    She continued: “Abubakar Muhammad, Ali Usman a.k.a Ja’o, Aliyu Abubakar and Kiruwa Shuaibu were arrested while two others; Abubakar and Jamo who are said to be from Kebbi state are still at large.”

    Also in a separate operation, the command said it arrested two persons; Emmanuel Joseph of Tamaje area and Ikwejulious Chido of Old airport area in Sokoto in possesion of 15 cartons and 18 rolls of illicit substances totalling 461 bottles suspected to be Codeine.

    However, the police image maker said during the course of investigation the suspects took the police to Sahara area where a search was conducted in a shop and the items were discovered in cartons and rolls.

    While calling on the public to always be on the alert and report suspicious persons on their midst,  the police spokesperson said Sokoto command of the force will continue to make it difficult for crime and criminals to find as hiding place for their nefarious activities.

    “We will continue to be proactively decisive in our operations in the fight towards crime prevention and control,” She said.

     

  • Four robbery suspects killed in Delta

    Four robbery suspects killed in Delta

    Four suspected armed robbers were reportedly felled in the early hours of Wednesday, during a shootout with men of the Delta state police command in Sapele.

    The Nation gathered that the felled suspects, some of the notorious gang members who had been on the wanted list of the state police command for a while now, were cornered up at a popular brothel in Sapele town, following useful tipoff.

    Although the identities of the individual suspects could not be confirmed before filing this report, a reliable police source told the Nation in Warri yesterday that they were part of  a notorious gang, led by one Ahmed and had been terrorising the Sapele area for some time now.

    According to him, the suspects had earlier in the day robbed some neighborhoods of the town and had retired to the brothel after their operations. Luck, however ran out on them when men of men of the Anti-robbery department of the Sapele Area Command were tipped off on their whereabouts.

    “The suspects had after returning to the town after months of fleeing for criminal activities went and rob at several places last night. Acting on citizens’ information, our men rushed to a hotel along Adeola Road in Sapele, where they were said to be hiding.

    “Men of the vigilante group in Sapele who are working with the police cordoned off the hotel premises.  On sighting the police, the robbers opened fire at us (the police) first and in the resulting gun battle. Three of the robbers were shot dead while one who escaped with gunshot injuries was later caught, and he confessed that three of them came from Agbarho, Ughelli North Council Area of the state. The other suspect later died”, he said.

    The spokesman of the Delta State Police Command, Andrew Aniamaka, confirmed the development.

  • ‘Official’ armed robbers on the prowl

    There is a saying among the Igbo people that when evil persists over time, it spreads its mat, lies down and institutionalises itself and this has sadly become the case of the Nigerian Police with roadside extortion. It has become even more worrisome because the people themselves have accepted the situation as normal and I really mean they have accepted – not seemed to have accepted. One wonders why a people would arm a group of men and women and place them at strategic positions across the country to rob road users while at the same time outlawing ‘private’ armed robbery. The situation is no longer funny and I think we should either constitutionally legalize armed robbery in this country or completely eradicate this uglier-than-vulture-malodorous-than-shrew evil. The case has so hopelessly deteriorated over the years from a covert operation to a broad daylight transaction with all the haggling and demanding for change and rejection of bad bills. Sadly, the Nigerian Army has not only also shamelessly engrossed itself in this depravity but has also since overtaken the police with a brazen and defiant boldness. The Federal Road Safety Corps seems a big joke having since inception been in long-running competition with the police not only over its duties but also over this normalized anomaly.

    The few road users who refuse to join the bandwagon are seen as either crazy or as congenital troublemakers. And so what are the results: Criminals get easily away with all sorts of crimes that could have been intercepted as long as they have enough crisp bills to go round. Drivers no longer bother about expired or incomplete papers and ramshackle vehicles provided they have something folded in their left palm with a smiling ‘officer officer how work?’ Innocent drivers and passengers are maliciously detained and frustrated and many others have accidental discharge hit them for refusing to comply with evil. Police officers watch while armed robbery lasts right before them in broad daylight at traffic gridlocks only to carry on with their own armed robbery a few meters away, retorting “Wetin concern me?” to any confrontations. Army officers manhandle and subject law-abiding citizens, old and young, frail and strong to inhuman treatments, the commonest being frog jumping for refusing to ‘go see the oga’. Men and women of the Federal Road Safety Corps ignore vehicles whose bumpers scrape the roads from overloading while detaining others whose fire extinguishers and wipers ‘do not appear convincingly functional’. Communities set up and fund vigilante groups to perform the same duties for which these security forces are paid and to which they have solemnly sworn. The list is endless.

    Traveling to Owerri a few weeks ago, we were waved down by policemen mounting one of the millions of roadblocks that one is forced to get used to in the country. I was in a public bus and this particular roadblock was in Orlu, Imo State. One thing led to the other and a young woman, who was cradling a baby that seemed only a night old and who was sitting beside me by the way, was ordered down from the vehicle with all her luggage for detailed investigation, that ambiguous Nigeria Police expression laden with blurred meanings. This wasn’t very strange following cases of child trafficking lately prevalent in the country and aggravated by the young woman’s hesitant reply to questions thrown to her by the cops. I was beginning to bask in the pleasure of having for once, in a public transport, to share a row of seat with just only two other passengers when a man on the row before ours started to accuse the driver for the woman’s predicament, for refusing to ‘settle the officers with only an extra N50 and save everyone all the stress’. And as if that was not enough, the driver himself shocked me with his reply which had something along the line of how many more policemen he’d have to settle along the way and so has to dodge the much he could.

    First, in no way was this driver responsible for the police doing what should be their job but it now seemed much the norm that he should accept responsibility than have the police to blame for anything, than have them do their work otherwise he might have had the police’s proverbial can of worms opened against him, against his vehicle and its road-worthiness. The truth is that if indeed the police had wanted to punish this driver for refusing to bribe them enough, it wouldn’t be through this nursing mother because we were almost immediately after the woman alighted, waved on to continue our journey. This is just one of countless incidents, one of the countless incidents of just how terrible we have become.

    Several police chiefs after another have on assumption of duty ordered the dismantling of police roadblocks ostensibly to curb this menace but only to have these devious orders collapse over time. The whisper has become so audible, as my people would say, that even the deaf have overheard. I therefore strongly recommend that President Muhammadu Buhari should as a matter of urgency make real his anti-corruption stance on whose wings he rode to power in 2015 and prevail on his security chiefs to stamp out this evil and return our security officers to their constitutional duties. The country’s services and particularly the police should be genuinely and completely overhauled. These men and women should be subjected to a thorough reorientation towards their original values and responsibilities. The masses should also be fully engaged by mandating the National Orientation Agency to wake to its responsibility of inculcating the proper ethics and values, rights and obligations into the people. An independent agency composed of patriotic men and women of proven integrity should be established by the National Assembly where citizens should be encouraged to report all cases of extortion for possible prosecution and punishment. It is too dangerous to toy with a time bomb when we already have too many explosions from Boko Haram.

     

    • Ebuka is a writer living in Imo State.
  • Robbers attack NLC Chairman’s house, abduct wife

    Robbers attack NLC Chairman’s house, abduct wife

    Armed robbers on Sunday attacked the residence of Nigerian Union of Labour, Ebonyi state chapter Chairma, Mr Leonard Nkah at Mile 50 Abakaliki.

    The robbers, five in number stormed the residence of the Chairman in the evening of Saturday and ransacked the house and took away some valuables including some undisclosed amount of cash.

    Mr Nkah in a chat with The Nation confirmed the incident but noted that he was not around when the robbers struck.

    “I was called by my wife around 9pm that robbers came to our house and demanded for my whereabouts. They said they got information that there was money that was brought in and that they need the money. They forced her to lie down despite the fact that she was pregnant. They ransacked the house and took whatever they could find but they were disappointed that there was no such huge amount of money in my house”

    He lamented that the robbers physically attacked and abducted his wife and later dumped her in a bush.

    “They assaulted my house help who opened the door when they came in, they also assaulted my wife and later abducted her. They beat her up while forcing her to lie down with her pregnancy which was difficult for her. They took her to other residents in the area where they also robbed before dumping her in the bush”

    “I thank God I wasn’t there, if I was there maybe it may have been a different story. They had information that I had huge sum of money. I was gathering resources to organise this reception for the Governor today, maybe some people told them I have money”.

    Mr Nkah urged the police to beef up security in the state during the Christmas to checkmate the activities of the criminals.

    Also, a journalist, Mr Moses Erogu of Ebonyi State Broadcasting Corporation, EBBC, had his house bugged on Sunday Morning by unknown criminals.

    Speaking to our Reporter, Mr Erogu, who is the Government House Abakaliki Correspondent of EBBC said the incident happened when he and the family were in the Church.

    “I took my family to 6am mass and from there I went to work. Later my wife called me to come home and when I got there I saw that they broke into the house and ransacked the house, took away some valuables including a phone belonging to my sister and some cash in the house”.

    Mr Erogu, whose building is located behind the state House of Assembly at Nkaliki lamented the increasing rate of criminal activities in the area and called on the police to do more to secure the area.

    Police spokesman in the area, Loveth Odah could not be reached for comments for comments.

    But Special Assistant to Governor David Umahi on Internal security, Kenneth Ugbala confirmed the incident to our Reporter.