Operatives of the Edo State Police Command have arrested a naval officer, Ibrahim Adamu (25) and correctional service officer, Abdullahi Abdulwahab (26), over alleged car snatching and armed robbery in Edo State.
The suspects were alleged to have snatched an unregistered C300 Mercedes Benz from its owner in Sapele, Delta State, and also robbed him of N400,000.
The state command’s spokesperson, Chidi Nwabuzor, while parading the suspects, said they were arrested in army uniform in Ekpoma by the crack team of the command while acting on credible information.
He said the suspects were taking the car to one alhaji in Abuja for sale when they were arrested by the police in Ekpoma.
He disclosed that, “The suspects have made statements and claimed to be personnel of the Nigerian Navy (NN) and the correctional service respectively.”
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In an interview with journalists, Ibrahim Adamu said, “I was recruited into the navy in 2019. I worked in Lokoja before I was posted to Warri, Delta State. It was when I went on a course in Sapele that I got the mind to steal the vehicle.
“When I finished my course, Abdullahi told me that he wanted to visit me. I told him that there was work I wanted us to do that would bring money for us and he agreed.
“We chartered a tricycle from Warri to Sapele for the operation. As soon as we entered Sapele, we saw a vehicle without a number plate. We asked the driver to stop but he refused. We pursued him to a village where he finally stopped, and I told him we were taking him to our office for driving an unregistered vehicle and he pleaded that we should settle the matter there, but we refused.
“I took over the steering from him and started driving, but when we got to Ogara Road, he asked how much he would offer us to settle the matter, and I said N500,000, but he pleaded and transferred N400,000 to one POS number in Abuja we gave him. The POS operator later sent the money back to us.”
He further said that after transferring the money to them, they ordered him out of the vehicle and drove off, adding that they were on the road to Abuja to meet the alhaji when the car broke down in a village in Edo State.
On his part, his accomplice, Abdullahi, who claimed he worked as a correctional service officer in Kaduna State, said Adamu invited him to Warri for the job, noting that that was his first time involving in robbery.
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