September 20, (THEWILL) – Operatives of the Abia state police Command have arrested ten suspects including a dismissed operative of the Department of State Services (DSS), Prosper Israel, over the recent robbery of a bullion van in the State.
Commissioner of Police, Janet Agebe, disclosed this on Monday, when she paraded the suspects at the Police Headquarters in Umuahia.
According to the Abia Police boss, the suspects were part of a 14-man robbery gang that ambushed a bullion van near Ntigha Junction, Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway, on July 26, 2022.
CP Janet said the cash officer of a new generation bank was killed in the incident, while the suspects carted an unspecified amount of cash being conveyed by the bullion van.
According to her, the arrest was the reward for months of painstaking efforts and investigation by police operatives.
“We carefully studied their modus operandi and set up a special intelligence technologically-led Investigative Squad, ITLIS, with a clear directive to arrest and recover weapons used by the deadly armed robbery gang.
“Consequently, the Investigation used a systematically commenced operation, applying speed and accuracy, and on different locations and days, arrested the following callous armed robbery gang”, she said.
The other suspects paraded were Adesoji Adeniyi from Ondo State; Nnamdi Nwaosu a.k.a “Prophet”; Chinwendu Israel from Abia; Nwachukwu Albert a.k.a White (first armourer) from Delta State, but resident in Lagos; Felix Ajaja from Ondo State; Moshood Opeyemi, from Osun State; and Matthew Christmas, also from Delta.
Others are Azubuike Amaefula, a.k.a Zubby, from Abia, and Monday Samuel (second armourer) from Delta, but resident in Ondo State.
Exhibits recovered from the suspects include one General Purpose Machine Gun ( GPMG); 13 AK 47 rifles; one cut-to-size double barrel gun with five live cartridges; 84 AK 47 magazines.
Others were two improvised explosives, dynamites; a Mercedes Benz mini truck used in concealing firearms; and cash of N10,184,000.
The CP added that the suspects during interrogation confessed that they placed the bullion van on surveillance for two months.
She added that efforts were on to trail three other members of the gang still at large, pleading with members of the public to always volunteer information about suspected criminals around them.
The suspects, the CP noted, would be arraigned in court after further investigations.
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