The Abia state Police command has paraded a dismissed personnel of the Department of State Services, (DSS), Prosper Israel, alongside 9 suspected armed robbers over bullion van robbery in Abia State.
Parading the suspects,Commissioner of Police,Mrs Janet Agbede,said the 10 suspects were part of the 14-man robbery gang who ambushed a bullion van near Ntigha junction,along the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway on July 26, 2022.
The robbers who barricaded the expressway killed the cash officer of a new generation bank as he made to flee from the attack while the suspects carted away an undisclosed amount of cash from the bullion van.
Three policemen escorting the bullion van sustained injuries while one of the robbers was shot dead by the security agents.
CP Agbede explained that the arrest was the result of painstaking investigations by the police in the state.
The CP said; “I carefully studied their modus operandi and set up a special intelligence technologically-led Investigative squad with a clear directive to arrest and recover weapons used by the deadly armed robbery gang.
“Consequently, the Investigation commenced systematically ,applying speed and accuracy and on different locations and days and arrested the following armed robbery gang.”
She gave the names and state of origin of the arrested suspects as: Adesoji Adeniyi( Ondo State); Nnamdi Nwosu, Chinwendu Israel (Abia) and Prosper Israel ( ex – DSS personnel)- (Abia)
Others include; Nwachukwu Albert( Delta State); Felix Ajaja (Ondo State); Moshood Opeyemi ( Osun) State; and Matthew Christmas (Delta)
Also in the list are; Azubuike Zubby( Abia) and Monday Samuel (Delta).
Items recovered from the gang include: one General Purpose Machine Gun; 13 AK 47 rifles; one double barrel gun with 5 live cartridges and 84 AK 47 magazines,dynamites; a Mercedes Benz mini truck used in conveying firearms as well as cash of N10m.
CP Agbede said the suspects on interrogation, confessed that they monitored the bullion van for about 2 months.
In an interview with newsmen, driver of the truck, Albert, said his role was to drive the arms and ammunition to the location of their robbery operation.
He said; “I have never killed. My job is to drive the vehicle to the scene of operation and hand over the guns.”
However, the ex-DSS personnel begged for forgiveness, lamenting that it was the first time he would be involved in robbery.
He said he was serving at the Abia State Government House, Umuahia, but was sacked in 2007 following his reporting late to his new posting.
