I was tricked into robbery, says lady

A 24-year-old lady, who was arrested for armed robbery in Abia State, has denied being a robber.

The suspect, Sarah John, 24, from Ozuitem in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, insisted she was tricked into a robbery operation by one Ahamefula Anya and gang. 

She didn’t know they were robbers until they whipped out guns and started operation in a bus filled with passengers.

According to the Abia State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Leye Oyebade, John and Anya were arrested while on robbery operation.

Narrating how she was allegedly tricked into robbery, John said: “On Friday, I was at Osisioma Junction, when I saw Ahamefula and two other men. They were going to Aba Motor Park. One of them approached and asked me where I was going. I told him I was heading to the park. They said they were also going to the park. They urged me to join them to Umuahia. They said that if I followed them to Umuahia, they would come back the next day to give me money. We didn’t have anything at home, which was why I followed them.”

John recalled that she and the men boarded a bus going to Umuahia.

She said that Ahamefula sat behind her, while the man that approached her at Osisioma Junction, sat near the driver. Sarah bought two magazines and started flipping through.

 She said: “As I was reading the magazine, two of them were discussing. When we got to Ubakala Road at about 9pm, Ahamefula came over to me. He said I shouldn’t fear over what they were about to do inside the bus. By that time, one of them was already ordering the bus driver to pull over. One of them opened a bag and brought out weapons. When I tried to ask them what they were doing, one of them hit my head with a hammer and told me to get down from the vehicle. That was how I ran out of the bus. I didn’t know anything about the robbery.”

Asked how she was arrested, John said: “As I was running on the road, intending to get a bus back to Aba on the other side of the road, police arrested me. I later heard that the gang members and some passengers told police that I was involved, but the truth is that I didn’t know anything about the robbery.”

The second suspect, Anya, from Owutu Edda in Ebonyi State, said he had never been involved in a robbery operation before until that fateful day. According to him, he was lured into the operation by his friend. He confessed to have joined his friend in the operation because of hardship.

He explained that he was at Obigbo Expressway, Rivers State, in a beer parlour, drinking when his friend came to invite him to join in robbery.

Anya, who described himself as a truck driver in Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), said that he and other workers at port, stopped working because there was no longer any vessel at the port.

He further said:  “I have not done this before. They convinced me to follow them. My friend told me that he has a business in his village. I asked him the kind of business? He didn’t tell me. He said I should wait until we get there. At that particular time, I was having family issues and needed money. He convinced me to follow and also paid my transport fare to the venue.  I followed him to Aba; from Aba, down to Ubakala. He brought out what he was holding in his bag and gave to me. The items were axes, hammer and pistol.”

Oyebade said that John and Anya were arrested on November 11, 2016, at a refuse dump site, along Umuahia Port-Harcourt Expressway. They were arrested by Safer Highway Patrol team.

Oyebade said: “The suspects hijacked a National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) coaster bus, with registration number WER 190 ZZ, at Ubakala Junction and robbed the passengers. We have been on the trail of the suspects, following an earlier attack on a commercial bus travelling from Umuahia to Aba. The strategy paid off when our men, positioned at different flash points, responded to a distress call. They arrested the suspects.”

The CP said that the command was committed to a safer high way and appealed to members of the public to volunteer information, which would enable the command sustain its fight against crime, especially during the forthcoming festive period.