The Abia State command of the Nigeria Police Force Monday paraded a dismissed personnel of the Department of State Services, DSS, Prosper Israel, and nine other suspected robbers.
The ten men are part of the 14-man robbery gang that ambushed a bullion van near Ntigha on the Enugu-Aba-Port-Harcourt expressway on July 26, 2022, the police said.
During the robbery operation, the cash officer of a new generation bank was killed on the spot while the suspects carted away an unspecified amount of cash being conveyed by the bullion van.
Three police personnel who escorted the bullion van sustained life-threatening wounds while one of the robbers was killed by the security men during a gun duel.
Parading the suspects, the state police commissioner, Janet Agbade, said their arrest was the reward for months of diligent investigation.
“I carefully studied their modus operandi and set up a special intelligence technologically-led Investigative squad ( ITLIS) with a clear directive to arrest and recover weapons used by the deadly armed robbery gang,” she said. ”Consequently, the Investigation used systematically commenced operation, applying speed and accuracy, and on different locations and days, arrested the following callous armed robbery gang.”
The commissioner gave the names of the suspects as Adesoji Adeniyi from Ondo State; Nnamdi Nwaosu a.k.a “Prophet”; Chinwendu Israel from Abia; and Prosper Israel (ex – DSS personnel), also from Abia.
Others were Nwachukwu Albert a.k.a White (first amourer) from Delta State but resident in Lagos; Felix Ajaja from Ondo State; Moshood Opeyemi, from Osun State; and Matthew Christmas also from Delta; Azubuike Amaefula a.k.a Zubby from Abia; and Monday Samuel (second armourer) from Delta but resident in Ondo State.
Exhibits recovered from the suspects include one General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG); 13 AK 47 riffles; one cut-to-size double-barrel gun with five live cartridges; 84 AK 47 magazines; two improvised explosives dynamites; a Mercedes Benz mini truck used in concealing firearms; as well as N10,184,900 cash.
The commissioner said during interrogation the men confessed that they placed the bullion van on surveillance for a couple of months, adding that efforts were on to track and apprehend three other members of the gang who are still at large.
The suspects would be arraigned after further investigations, she added.
