Detectives attached to Igando Police Station, Iba
Road, Lagos State, on Tuesday morning, arrested two men who allegedly just
arrived from the Niger Delta, in Delta State, via waterway, into Lagos State to
carry out a bank robbery.
The two suspects have been identified as Chinedu
Okoro and Keme Patrick. The suspects were arrested after their motorbike was
flagged down by policemen who were on routine patrol duty. Two other
motorbikes, carrying about two passengers, refused to obey the policemen and
disappeared.
Preliminary investigations showed that Okoro is just
a hired motorbike rider, while Patrick just arrived from Delta State, with
others now at large, to carry out a bank robbery.
The bank robbery is supposed to take place at
Abule-Egba, tomorrow (Friday). The suspect, who claimed to be a cousin of Tom
Ateke, said he was a former Niger Delta militant.
Fielding questions from detectives at Igando
division, Patrick said that he only knew the name of the area, but not the
particular bank they would be attacking.
He further confessed to have taken part in the FESTAC
Town robbery, where dynamites were used to blow up banks before robbers in
military entered the banks and carted away millions of naira. A mother and her
child were killed by the robbers’ stray bullets.
A police source said: “On Tuesday, at about 6am,
policemen from Igando Police Station were on ‘Stop and Search’ duty when they
sighted three motorbikes. Two of the motorbikes had two passengers and golf bags.
The police flagged down them down, but two refused to stop. The policemen were
able to arrest the motorbike which was in the middle.
“The golf bag was searched. AK49 rifle, 81 round of
ammunitions and six magazines, two mobile policemen uniforms, two mobile police
caps, two military belts and one camouflage uniform were found inside the bag.”
The source explained that the suspects were taken to
Igando Police Station, where Patrick confessed that Okoro was just a charted
cyclist.
During interrogation, Patrick said that he was
related to Ateke Tom. “He said he was a former militant. He said that he had
been arrested before and taken to SARS in Lagos. He was charged to court by
SARS, but granted bail by the court three months ago. He said that they just
arrived Lagos State via just minutes ago before our men arrested them.”
Patrick also told detectives that he and other gang
members were supposed to meet at Abule Egba, to fine tune the robbery which was
supposed to take place on Friday, before they were arrested.
According to him, the three motorbikes were all
heading to Abule-Egba.
The police
disclosed: “They are supposed to meet at Abule-Egba, where they would carry out
the bank robbery. Patrick said he didn’t know Abule Egba. He said that the two
motorbike riders that escaped were leading him to AbuleEgba. He said the two
motorbike riders and their passengers were part of their robbery gang. He said
that they are the people that know the bank that would be robbed on Friday morning.”
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