•Recover locally-made gun, stolen phones from another
Police operatives in Delta State command have arrested four suspected armed robbers who attacked a driver of Dangote and his assistant, and hijacked the vehicle with 900 bags of cement, before its recovery.
Also nabbed was a suspect found with a locally-made gun and stolen phones.
Disclosing this on Thursday, September 2, 2021, the acting police image-maker in the state, DSP Bright Edafe, said that the arrest was made by the state Commissioner of Police, Ari Mohammed Ali, who had always pressed it on officers and men of the command on the need to be proactive at all times through continuous raiding of black spots and stop-and-search operations.
Speaking on the arrest of the suspects, Edafe said that on Tuesday, August 31, at about 9:30am, a Dangote truck driver, Bature Ibrahim, informed a patrol team of Illah Division which was on patrol along Illah-Asaba road, that at about 3am, while he was trying to park his truck, with registration number DAS 690 ZY, loaded with 900 bags of cement, at Okpella in Edo State, four armed men emerged from the bush, dragged him and his conductor into the bush, gave them several machete cuts and tied them with rope before making away with the truck.
This, the PPRO stated, made the patrol to swing into action immediately, and after intelligence-led investigation, they located the truck somewhere in Illah where it was parked at Aniegele, along Illah-Asaba road.
“On sighting the patrol vehicle, the suspects jumped into the bush and took to their heels. The police, in a combined effort with the local vigilantes, chased them and four suspects namely Ozioma Umez ‘m’, Uchenna Idenyi ‘m’, Chibuike Nwamgbo ‘m’ and Chiolada Nomha ‘m’ were arrested in connection with the crime,” Edafe said.
He added that two cutlasses were also recovered from the suspects, saying that investigation was ongoing.
Also on the same day, at about 9:25pm, Dragon 02 patrol team of the command which was conducting stop-and-search operation along Agbor/Asaba highway, by Issele-Uku, intercepted a red colour Qlink motorcycle with registration number LEG 326 QN, conveying three men.
The police spokesman said that when they sighted the patrol team, they abandoned the motorcycle and ran into a nearby bush.
He said further that they were pursued, leading to the arrest of one of them who gave his name as Musa Kabiru, aged 42.
When searched, a locally-made pistol, a live cartridge and four mobile handsets were recovered from him.
DSP Edafe said that the owners of the phones had identified them as theirs, and also identified the suspect as one of the gang members who robbed them.
He said that effort was being made to arrest the other fleeing members of the gang, while investigation was ongoing.
According to him, the Commissioner of Police, Ali, urged residents of the state to be vigilant at all times and to be security conscious.
The police boss also advised the state indigenes and residents to get the distress call numbers issued by the command, so that they would be able to reach out to the police whenever the need arises.
He said that the PPRO’s office could be contacted through the following numbers:
+234 915 557 0008;
+234 915 557 0007; and
+234 902 907 0037, while the command’s control room number was given as +234 803 668 4974.
