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.
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