Dismissed Soldier, 16 Others Paraded For Robbery, Rape (photo)
The FCT Police Command has paraded 17 suspects including a dismissed soldier for various crimes including armed robbery, rape and fraud in the capital city.
While parading the suspects, the FCT Commissioner of Police, Bala Ciroma, said the success recorded by the command was as a result of aggressive intelligence gathering, raid of identified black spots and criminal hideouts, diligent investigation of cases, foot and motorised patrols, conduct of stop and search operations and community engagement.
He said the command arrested one Goodluck Onyewenyi, 40, for fraudulently opening a bank account with the name of a patient suffering from kidney failure and in dire need of financial assistance to undergo kidney transplant.
“The suspect, who happens to be a family friend to the patient took advantage of the relationship to write to wealthy individuals, corporate organisations and highly placed government officials for financial assistance.
“The suspect used a bank account he opened in the name of the patient to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.
“Preliminary investigation has revealed that the suspect uses names of patients identified to be suffering from kidney failure to solicit for financial assistance which he converts to his personal use,” he said.
The CP added that the dismissed soldier on his part was arrested for allegedly supplying firearms to three other robbery suspects who were nabbed on December 27 by police operatives on stop and search duty at Nyanya area.
The suspects are Tochukwu Nwodo, 32; Gabriel Ileso, 32 and Michael Damelak, 20, who, according to the CP, confessed during interrogation that the firearm was supplied to them by one Friday Audu, 32. They said they were going for a robbery operation when vigilant policemen arrested them.
Also, the CP said, three suspects – Ibrahim Iliya, Rilwanu Abdullahi and Victor Besini – were arrested on January 8 by operatives attached to the command’s Safer Highway Patrol Team on duty at Yangoji, Kwali in possession of an unregistered Boxer motorcycle that was later discovered to have been stolen from its owner at Kpada village two days earlier.
The owner of the recovered motorcycle, he said, is currently on admission in hospital as a result of injuries inflicted on him by the suspects, adding that the suspects are notorious for attacking their victims with dangerous weapons and inflicting injuries on them.
Three other suspects, Sunday Abraham, Sunday Obi and Tochukwu Chibuike, were also arrested for allegedly robbing a woman in Lugbe area of the FCT and raping her. Responding to questions from journalists, the suspects all admitted to robbing the woman, with Abraham and Obi also admitting to have raped their victim.
The dismissed soldier, while responding to questions, however denied supplying the firearms to the robbery suspects but admitted ownership of one of the firearms and the military kits found in their possession. He said one of the suspects, Nwodo, took the gun from his bag.
