The Nigeria Police Force said its operatives have arrested 11 suspects for alleged involvement in a ” one-chance” robbery in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The Force public relations officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said this at a news conference on Wednesday in Abuja.
Mr Adejobi said a POS machine and one Mazda Saloon car with Reg. No. KUJ 887 BQ were recovered from the suspects.
He said the suspects, consisting of seven females and four males, were arrested on Feb. 19 following an intelligence report received by operatives of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT).
Mr Adejobi said the intelligence received on Jan. 16 had revealed the activities of the “one chance” robbers in Gwagwalada, Area 1, AYA, Giri and Wuse axis of the FCT.
According to him, police operatives immediately traced the criminals and arrested them at their hideout in Karmo area of the FCT.
“Upon their arrest and consequent interrogation, the suspects confessed to be involved in “one-chance” operations and have been running it for over a year,” he said.
Mr Adejobi said four of the suspects were arrested with their wives, with the couples allegedly confessing to being involved in the criminal act.
He said the modus oparandi used by the suspects was to ensure that they have four of their members seated at the back seat of the car and one in front with the driver.
“They will make sure that the front seat occupied by one of their members is adjusted to ensure that it will not be comfortable for their expected victim to sit with their member.
“Once they get their victim and open the front door for her to enter, it will be so uncomfortable that, the knees of the two persons occupying the front seat will be touching the dashboard of the car.
“At this time, they will tell their victim, to come down so that they can adjust the chair and in the process, one of them will offer to hold her bag so that they can adjust the seat.
“While adjusting the chair and offering to hold the bag for the victim, they will steal her phone.
“Once they succeed in stealing the phone, they will tell the victim that they are not going in her direction again and will zoom off before she will realise that her phone has been stolen,” he said.
He said with the phone, the criminals could withdraw all the money in the account of their victim.
Mr Adejobi also said the IRT operatives, on Feb. 9, arrested 10 suspects over criminal conspiracy, transborder gunrunning and illegal fabrication of firearms.
The police spokesman said two AK-47 rifles, nine automatic pistols and 1,800 rounds of live ammunition were recovered from the suspects.
He added that the suspects were arrested following intelligence that a syndicate of transborder gunrunners was operating from Plateau to other parts of the country.
Mr Adejobi said the suspects were also involved in the supply of arms and ammunition to criminal elements beyond the borders of the country.
“During the investigation, it came to light that one of the suspects is a transborder arms and ammunition supplier based in Cross River.
“He usually gets supplies of AK47 rifles, ammunition, and rocket launchers from four other suspects based in Plateau, who, in turn, supply the same to some rebels and other criminal elements in a neighbouring country.
“One of the suspects has confessed to having sold four AK-47 rifles belonging to his late father, who was a police officer, instead of handing them over to legal authorities.
“He has also confessed that the others he has sold were locally fabricated by him,” he
said.
Mr Adejobi said the police had, in the past two weeks, arrested 92 suspects over armed robbery and 153 for kidnapping.
He said 35 kidnapped victims were rescued while seven stolen vehicles were recovered.
He said nine other suspects were arrested over cultism, with 44 arms and 477 ammunition of various calibres recovered.
(NAN)