Skip to main content

Police arrest 5 in Port Harcourt foiled bank robbery

The five suspects

The Nigerian police have arrested five suspected armed robbers in connection with December’s foiled Access Bank robbery in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, South-South Nigeria.

The principal suspect and the master mind of the foiled bank attack, who is a staff of the bank, Samuel Ndudiri, 28, was arrested with the other four. Others are an ex-police sergeant, Promise Ukwuoma, Samuel Nwala, 28; Lucky Ukwuoma, 26 and Kaale Taagabah, 27.

Recovered from the suspects are; two AK 47 Rifles and magazines fully loaded with ammunition, a welding machine, two gas cylinders and iron cutters, a big chisel, cutting saw, hammer and acetylene gas power.

The ex-sergeant and the mastermind of the robbery attack

Force Public Relations Officer, Don Awunah, in a statement on Thursday, said the suspects and others still at large, had on 22 December, 2016, stormed a branch of Access Bank PLC in Port Harcourt, relying on information and active involvement of one of the staff of the bank.

“The armed robbers successfully broke down the well fortified security doors and barriers and took over the banking hall. They were almost pulling down the vault of the bank and other strong rooms in the bank with use of gas cylinder welding machine and iron cutters before the joint Police Teams of IGP’s Intelligence Response Team and policemen from Rivers State Police Command swiftly moved in and dislodged them, thereby foiled the armed robbery attack on the Bank and made a prompt arrest of three of the suspects at the scene; namely Samuel Nwala, Lucky Ukwuoma and Kaale Taagabah.

The two AK-47 Riffles

“In the course of thorough investigation into the foiled armed robbery attack on the bank, the principal suspect who is a staff of the bank and the master mind of the armed robbery attack was subsequently arrested based on the confessional statements volunteered by the last three suspects arrested at the scene,” he said.

Awunah said the arrest of the principal suspect led to the arrest of ex-sergeant, Promise Ukwuoma who participated actively in the armed robbery attack on the bank, the two AK 47 riffles and the ammunition were recovered from him.

He added that all the suspects had volunteered confessional and useful statements to the Police about the various criminal roles they played in the commission of the crime.

“However, concerted efforts are being intensified to arrest other suspects still at large and bring them to justice.The case will be charged to court on completion of investigation,” he said.

-Kazeem Ugbodaga

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Court grants Fani-Kayode N50m bail

Fani-kayode sandwiched by EFCC officials Justice James Tsoho of the Federal High Court Abuja on Thursday granted a N50m bail to former spokesman of the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode. Fani-Kayode was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a five-count charge of money laundering to the tune of N26m. Fani-Kayode is the sole defendant in the fresh charges numbered, FHC/ABJ/CR/140/2016. The EFCC accused the defendant of diverting 26 million Naira allegedly received from the ONSA while Sambo Dasuki was in office. The anti-graft agency also accused him of handling the said N26 million without going through financial institution as required under the Money Laundering Act. The embattled former minister is already facing 17-count charge of money laundering before the Lagos Division of the court, along with a former Finance Minister; Nenadi Usman, Danjuma Yusuf and a firm; Joint Trust Dimension Nigeria Limited. They were charg...

Pope not involved in Colombian peace deal- Vatican

Pope Francis Pope Francis has turned down a request to play a role in the peace deal between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group. The Vatican in a statement issued on Wednesday in in Vatican City said that an invitation was sent to his Holiness in early August to appoint a representative to participate in the committee that selected the judges for the talks. The statement said that though Pope Francis supported the peace process, he, however, reiterated that he would not get involved in Colombian peace deal. It said that Pope was praying for the enlightenment of the hearts and minds of those who were called to promote the common good of the Colombian nation. A deal was announced last week, putting an end to five decades of internal conflict between government forces and the FARC rebels. The agreement, which needed to be ratified through a referendum in Oct. 2, would entail setting up a special court to grant amnesties or pu...

Man docked for defiling 9-year-old girl

magistrate-court A 33-year-old man, Godwin Otobo, was on Monday docked at a Surulere Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos.For allegedly defiling a nine-year-old girl, ‎Otobo, who lives at No. 10, Borrow Pit St., Sangotedo-Ajah area of Lagos, was said to have defiled the underage girl whose parents also reside in the same compound. The Prosecutor, Sgt. Anthonia Osayande, told the court that the accused committed the offence at about 9.00 p.m. sometimes in September. “The accused defiled the girl in the night when she was fetching water.‎ “The offence contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011,’’ Osayande told the court. The accused pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge of defilement. Ruling on a bail application filed by the accused, Chief Magistrate Ipaye Nwachukwu, granted him bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties in like sum. She said one of the sureties must be a property owner in Lagos State, while the other must be a civil servant on grade...