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Tag: Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad

  • AIG Mani vows to reposition force CID Alagbon for effectiveness

    The Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) Annex, Alagbon Close, Ikoyi, Lagos, Murtala Mani promised, on Friday, to restore the glory of the unit.

    Mani told reporters that the necessary machinery has been set in motion to achieve this objective.

    The AIG said that he had returned about 40 files of cases sent from different state police commands to Alagbon for action.

     He said the parties involved are satisfied that justice had been done in their cases.

     He said if a party to a case has no confidence in a State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), he is not sure whether the person will also have confidence or trust in the FCID Alagbon.

    Read Also: ‘How state police, NSIP can fight crime’

     He said: “We are the same police.”

     Mani also said that effort was being made to deploy as many professionals as possible to the  fingerprint section to elevate it to global standard.

     He recalled how the annex made significant breakthroughs in otherwise complicated criminal cases including the arrest of the suspected brains behind the recent killing of Igwe Stephen Nneji Obuneme Nwatu Ibe I of Ogbozine Akpugo, Enugu State.

     Sections at the annex include: General investigation, Inter Police, Central Criminal Registry namely Finger Print Unit and Latent Unit. Other departments inlude: Forensic Analysis, Police Special Fraud Unit, Homicide, Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Special Enquiry Bureau, Anti-Human Trafficking, Legal for Prosecution of cases and Special Squad.

  • Police arrest man for allegedly strangling Taxify driver

    The Federal Special Anti-robbery Squad (FSARS) at Adeniji Adele, Lagos has arrested a man, Ikechukwu Ozorumba, who allegedly strangled a Taxify driver to death and stole his car.

    Ozorumba, 29, of 16, Yaro Street, Okokomaiko, Lagos, and his accomplice simply identified as Nkelechi, alias Sunshine, who is on the run, allegedly killed Ebenezer Olotu last December 26.

    The police alleged that Ozorumba, from Ubolu-Uku in Delta State, boarded Olotu’s Toyota Camry Taxify car on Bode Thomas Street, Surulere, at about 11pm.

    When they got to Okokomaiko at about 12am, they attacked Olotu, strangled him and dumped his body at Jimoh Street in Okokomaiko, before making off with the car with number plate, SMK 980 FM.

    The Nation learnt that Olotu was from Akoko in Ondo State.

    FSARS also arrested a palm oil farmer in Oguta, Imo State, Chima Chukwuemeka, in connection with the crime.

    Chukwuemeka, 38, from Amaraku in Isiala Mbano, Imo State, was accused of harbouring Ozorumba in his farm to evade Police arrest.

    The police said Olotu’s family petitioned the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in charge of FSARS, Lagos Island, Mr. Kola Okunola, that the deceased left home for work on December, 26, 2018 and never returned, which investigation commenced.

    A police source told The Nation that a FSARS team obtained Ozorumba’s phone number from Olotu’s phone and used it to track him to his hideout on Chukwuemeka’s farm in Oguta, where both men were arrested and the car recovered.

    Narrating how the alleged incident occurred, Ozorumba said: “On 26 December, 2018, we chartered the driver as passengers from Bode Thomas in Surulere area of Lagos and told him to take us to Okokomaiko area of Lagos.

    READ ALSO: Sad end of Taxify driver

    “On our way, we ordered the driver to surrender his car key to us, but he refused and started struggling with us. In the process, we used an iron rod to hit him, strangled him and dumped his body at Jimoh Street, Okokomaiko. We then drove the car straight to Imo State to look for a buyer.”

    He said when he got home; his wife asked him why he had blood stains on his body and an injury on his finger.

    Ozorumba said: “I told my wife that I was involved in a fight at a club, where I sustained the injury and the blood stains on my clothes, so she didn’t suspect anything.

    “We never meant to kill him,” he added.

    But Chukwuemeka denied complicity in the alleged offence. He said Ozorumba never told him he killed anyone and stole his car.

    “If I had known that Ikechukwu  allegedly robbed  a driver of his car and killed him, I would not have harbored him in my farm till the Police came to Imo State  from Lagos to  arrest me of what I know nothing about,” he stated.

    According to him, his mother phoned him some days before his arrest, to tell him that she dreamed he was arrested by the police.

  • Wike: killers will be brought to justice

    RIVERS State Governor Nyesom Wike has vowed to probe the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad whose personnel allegedly killed a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) agent, Dr. Ferry Gberegbe.

    Gberegbe was killed in Khana Local Government Area during the governorship election.

    The governor, who announced a N200 million scholarship for the deceased’s four children, told the widow to open bank accounts for each child.

    The governor led leaders in the state on a condolence visit to the family of the slain lecturer.

    He said: “We will set up a judicial commission of inquiry to ensure that the culprits are brought to justice. It is unfortunate that F-SARS killed the PDP collation agent.

    “The government will give the deceased’s children scholarships. Their mother should open dedicated accounts for each of them. The government will pay N50 million to each of the four children for their education.”

    Wike, who decried the shooting at the Khana collation centre, where Gberegbe was PDP collation agent, lamented that the shots caused his death.

    “Instead of allowing people to choose who will represent and govern them, the security agencies prefer to kill us.

    “He died in the course of defending the PDP. He died in the course of defending democracy. I assure the family that those who killed him will not go free”.

    The governor said the late Gberegbe remained committed to the PDP even on his sick-bed, maintaining that the deceased sent him a text message, saying he would be happy when Wike is declared winner of the election.

    The governor said the government would also build a house for the deceased’s family and participate in his burial.

    PDP National Chairman Prince Uche Secondus said the deceased was a victim of the calculated oppression of the oil rich states by the Army and the F-SARS.

  • Our members barred from returning to their community, says Bayelsa PDP

    The Bayelsa State Chairman òf the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Moses Cleopas, has raised the alarm that over 2000 members of the party from Nembe-Bassambiri, were not allowed to return to the community.
    Cleopas explained that the party members fled the community following violence that rocked the area on the eve of the Presidential and National Assembly elections.
    But he lamented that persons, who orchestrated the violence perfected measures to stop the residents from returning to the community ahead of the forthcoming elections.
    Cleopas called on the Federal Government and relevant security agencies to intervene in the worsening  security situation in Nembe Bassambiri, where he said  thugs backed by soldiers attacked PDP members to cart away election materials to a hotel for thumb-printing.
    He called called on the Nigerian Army to deploy a fresh set of soldiers to Nembe and Brass Local Government Areas ahead of the elections.
    He alleged that the current set of soldiers had  been compromised to tarnish the image of the establishment by aiding criminality and electoral violence in Bayelsa.
    Cleopas expressed shock that the Army had not been able to arrest any of the thugs shooting and harassing innocent people in Nembe Bassambiri.
    He further alleged that the Nigerian Army commenced a process of harassing innocent members of the PDP with a view to perpetrating low voters turn out to the detriment of the party in the area.
    He called on the security agencies to ensure that the PDP members who fled Bassambiri during the attack by thugs aided by soldiers in Nembe Bassambiri were allowed to their residences without harassment.
    The PDP Chairman, however,  commended the leadership of the Nigerian Police for the bold decision to arrest the masterminds of the harassment of the Deputy Commissioner òf Police in charge of Federal Special Anti Robbery Squad, Mr. Kola Okunola during the last election.
    He called for immediate prosecution of the people that harassed Okunola  before he was rescued by the whiskers for refusing to manipulate results.
    Cleopas stressed that only such a step would restore the people’s confidence in the security agencies.

  • Transporter held for ‘diverting’ clothes worth N5.2m

    For allegedly diverting clothes worth about N5.2m and selling them N100,000, a transporter Gabriel Onyeka has been arrested by operatives of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) Lagos.

    Onyeka was apprehended after the buyer he took the bags of clothes to at Ebute-Ero market alerted the police.

    It was gathered that the unnamed buyer had suspected the seller after he offered 12 bags filled with clothes  for sale at N500,000.

    According to the police, the said buyer offered to pay N100,000 and Onyeka agreed, fuelling suspicion in the mind of the buyer who notified security operatives.

    It was gathered that in the course of investigation, detectives found out that the clothes belonged to one Alhaji Dabuzu in Kano State who handed them to Onyeka for delivery to a customer in Aba, Abia State.

    Investigations showed that the real owner had gone to New Park in Kano State to waybill the goods but instead of taking them to the intended buyer, the suspect diverted them to Lagos with intent to sell them and keep the money.

    According to the police, Onyeka admitted to have stolen the goods, adding that he was desperate to raise money to travel to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

    The FSARS operatives also arrested a suspected gang of armed robbers alleged to have terrorised lodgers, residents around Igando and Ikotun.

    The gang allegedly led by one Emmanuel Olasunkanmi alias Federal was arrested in a hotel last month by a team led by Festus Olaniyi, a Superintendent of Police (SP).

    According to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) incharge of FSARS Lagos Ibrahim Kaoje, others arrested alongside Olasunkanmi were Ahmed Agunbiade alias Omo Jo Ibo, Dotun Ogunsanya, Nurudeen Agbeyewo, Segun Okinade and Usman Akinde.

    Kaoje said 15 stolen motorcycles, household items and three cut-to-size pistols were recovered from the gang.

    The suspects were said to have told the police they bought the guns at N30,000 each.

  • 36-yr-old ex- banker, others held for robbery

    Operatives of the Federal Special Anti- Robbery Squad (FSARS have arrested a former banker, Dominion Abraham, 36, for robbery.

    The suspect, according to the officer in charge of FSARS, Peter Gana, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) is a member of a four- man gang that specialized in burgling houses, warehouses, stores and shops.

    Other members of the gang are: Yusuf Badmus; Chime Njenobi, 26, and Abimbola Austin, 30.

    Confessing, Abraham said he joined the robbery gang to survive unemployment.

    Abraham made this confession on Tuesday at the FSARS operational head office inside Lagos police command headquarters, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos.

    He said: “I was retrenched in 2013 by First Bank and my salary before I left the bank was N80,000 per month. The retrenchment came suddenly, and I became idle for many months. When I finished the money on me I started looking for work in order to get money to take care of my domestic needs.

    “I registered with Redcap Taxi Company where I started driving metro taxi. I used to deliver N5,000, N4,500 and sometimes N3,500. I used to park my cab in front of Cash and Carry Plaza at Ikeja near Awolowo Way.

    ‘’My trouble started when I met one man called Idache. We are both from Benue State. He asked me how I was doing in my taxi work. After I told him how I was fairing as a taxi driver, he promised to introduce me to a group that would pay me better salary. I was happy but the first outing with the group made me to know that they were robbers. My role was to drive them to anywhere we wanted to operate or break into shops.’’

    In his confession, Yusuf said: ” I am married with four children. I joined the gang last year when we robbed in Gowon estate. We burgled a container and broke the safe in the year 2017. We were charged to court and later sent to Kirikiri Prison on remand for four months and later granted bail. This one for which I was arrested again was the fifth one.’’

    Njemobi, who hails from Imo State and once sold clothes at Sango, in Ogun State, said it was Dominion that brought the job for which he was arrested. ‘We burgled a container shop in Gowon estate,; we broke  Into the safe  and collected two phones and two laptops.

    ‘’It was the phones we sold to a trader in computer village Ikeja that police used to track us. I went to computer village and police saw me and arrested me.’’

    The suspect added that he took to burgling because he needed money to boost his business.

     

  • F-SARS seeks cooperation from media to fight crime

    F-SARS seeks cooperation from media to fight crime

    The Commander of Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad ( F-SARS )in Cross River, Mr Victor Usang, has appealed for cooperation from journalists in the state in fighting crime.

    Usang made the appeal on Friday in Calabar when he paid a courtesy visit to the Chairman of the State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists ( NUJ ), Mr Victor Udu, at the council secretariat.

    The F-SARS commander said he was in the NUJ secretariat in the belief that security was the responsibility of everybody, nothing that community policing was the best way of fighting crime.

    “Since my assumption of office in the state, I have visited many organisations but I think NUJ is the most important partner in our efforts in fighting crime in Cross River.

    “I belief that security is the responsibility of everybody rather than few. I therefore appeal to journalists in the state to work with us in our effort to reduce crimes,’’ he said.

    According to him, there is increase in crime across the state and this calls for synergy among sister organisations and between the police and strategic professional groups like the NUJ.

    “Incidentally, Cross River is right now faced with rising crime wave such as kidnapping, cultism and armed robbery.

    “It is our duty to reduce the crime rate to the barest minimum. We need the cooperation of all, particularly the media,’’ he said.

    Read Also: Fake F-SARS commander, officer arrested in Rivers

    Responding, the NUJ chairman said that F-SARS owed it a duty to protect lives and property as well as ensure peace in the state.

    Udu called on the commander to work within the confines of the law while discharging his duties in the state.

    “Cross River needs peace and it is your duty to provide them with this peace.

    “So, I encourage you to do that2 and assure you that journalists in the state will work with you when necessary, to achieve the desired result,” he said.

    NAN

  • Driver ‘absconds with N25m Chivita goods, trucks’

    Driver ‘absconds with N25m Chivita goods, trucks’

    The Federal Special Anti-robbery Squad, (FSARS), Adeniji-Adele, Lagos, has charged a driver, Garuba Lawal, with the theft of Chivita products and a truck, all valued at N25,000,000.

    Garuba, 36, of Olorunsogo Area in Kwara State, was arraigned before Mrs Abimbola Komolafe of an Igbosere Magistrate’s Court, Lagos on a two-count charge of conspiracy and stealing.

    According to Prosecuting Sergeant Friday Mameh, Garuba, an employee of a haulage firm, was asked to convey a truck laden with Chivita juices and beverages from Lagos to Benin, Edo State.

    The defendant left Lagos on May 4, 2016 but allegedly diverted and sold the goods and truck.

    Read: Driver docked for impregnating step-daughter

    The haulage firm allegedly tracked the truck on its tracking device to Kwara State. It reported the incident to FSARS which allegedly traced the defendant to his home town.

    Mameh said the goods were worth N12million while the Renault truck with Registration Number DKA 354XG was valued at N13, 000,000.

    The offences, Mameh added, contravened sections 287(5)(a)(b)&(c) and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

    Garuba pleaded not guilty.

    Magistrate Komolafe granted him N5million bail with two sureties in the like sum.

    The case continues on November 13.

    Read Also: ‘Obey traffic rules’

  • Police arrests Pastor for operating fake maternity in Abia

    Police arrests Pastor for operating fake maternity in Abia

    The Abia state police command has arrested and paraded a pastor who operates a church and a medical centre which has been converted in to a baby factory at number 252 Faulks road Aba.

    Speaking in Umuahia while parading the pastor who gave his name as Christopher Adebanya Tochukwu and other suspected criminals, the Commissioner of Police (CP) Leye Oyebade said that the pastor has been raping the pregnant girls at his medical centre.

    Oyebade said that when one of the girls was interrogated she claimed that the pastor has been raping them and in one of his attempt to rape one of the girls, he was stabbed on the neck by the victim with a glass object she laid her hands on.

    He said that one of the girls who gave her name as Imeobong Udoh under interrogation alleged that her two months old baby she delivered there was forcefully taken away from her by the wife of the pastor and sold to an unknown person.

    The Abia CP said that his men from Ariaria police station who went for the operation was able to rescue a two weeks old baby girl who has been taken to a motherless baby’s home for care and custody.

    In an interaction with Blessing Ariet, she said that the pastor tried to rape her and when she refused that he started beating her with belt leaving several marks on her body.

    She said that there was a time when he attempted to sleep with her forcefully but had to stop, “When his wife came suddenly into the room she was kept and he pretended that he was examining her stomach”.

    The other girl who gave her name as Ikechukwu Jane said that the wife of the pastor who is now as large is aware of her husband’s raping of the girls in the medical centre, “The wife said that when he sleeps with the girls that the babies in our womb are being fed naturally”.

    Oyebade said that the operatives of Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the command stationed at Obehie division arrested Godspower Emeka aged 28 years of Orji street Obehie for allegedly stealing Mercy Emeka aged 3 years of the same address.

    He said that Mercy was sold to Kelvin Ogbunigwu aged 35 years of Omuma in Rivers state for the sum of N150,000, “The baby who has been recovered and the suspect who sold her is her uncle”.

    When The Nation spoke with the Emeka, he said that the load of feeding eleven children in their family was becoming too much, “So when one of my friends Ogbunigwu came and told me that there is someone who would buy the baby I sold her to him”.

    When asked why did he not sell one of his children since he said that he is married with children, he said, “It is the devil and I regret my actions and plead that my sister should forgive me for my devilish action”.

    Oyebade said that the strategy the command has out in place in fighting heinous crimes has started yielding fruits as has his men under Ndiegoro division intercepted and engaged a five man armed robbery gang in a gun duel very close to a first generation bank in Aba.

    He said that after the gun battle, “Two of the hoodlums were gunned down, while three of the suspects escaped their operational car a Nissan Laurel with registration number AE 221 ARG and other items were recovered”.

    The CP also paraded several other suspected criminals including burglars who specializes in breaking of shops, including recovery of fire arms from suspected armed robbers.