Police arrest 3 for stealing items worth N60m in Abuja

The police have apprehended three suspects involved in a series of house break-ins and the theft of gold and other valuable items in Abuja.

During a media briefing, Force Public Relations Officer ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi disclosed that the arrests were made by operatives of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) following a thorough investigation.

The investigation identified the prime suspect as a fish trader operating at the Kado fish market in Abuja.

According to Adejobi, the suspects had targeted three homes in the Lugbe area before striking a fourth residence.

They scaled the fence and used a motor jack to widen the bars of the house’s burglary proof.

He said, once inside, they found a safe in the house, went away with it and used a hammer and chisel to break the safe forcefully and found money, documents and gold.

“Upon the discovery, the prime suspect contacted a buyer to dispose of the items where he realised over N60 million after selling the items,” he said.

Additionally, Adejobi reported that the IRT had apprehended 16 suspects linked to the theft and robbery of motorcycles and tricycles in Plateau. These suspects operated at night, stealing unattended tricycles and posing as police officers to stop motorcyclists, using fake identity cards to confiscate their vehicles.

The syndicate, pretending to be police officers, would accuse motorcyclists of breaking curfew rules, seize their motorcycles, and instruct the owners to retrieve them from the nearest police division. The stolen vehicles were then sold to a receiving group within the syndicate. So far, police have recovered eight motorcycles and 11 tricycles from the suspects.

Over the past six weeks, police operatives have arrested 1,284 suspects involved in armed robbery, kidnapping, rape, homicide, cultism, and other criminal activities. Of these, 307 were arrested for armed robbery, 296 for kidnapping, 301 for homicide, 176 for rape and defilement, and 204 for cult-related offences.

The police also recovered 284 firearms, 6,702 rounds of ammunition of various calibres, 107 vehicles, and rescued 97 kidnap victims during this period.