The Inspector – General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba's Intelligence Response Team (IRT), have arrested one Itoro Clement who rammed and killed the missing Vanguard Newspaper staff writer Mr. Tordue Salem on Wednesday, Oct 13, 2021, in Abuja the nation's capital.
Itoro, a native of Akwa Ibom State and resident cab driver in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), confessed to having hit the deceased journalist and ran away after the ugly accident on that fateful day.
Parading the suspect before newsmen on Friday at the IRT headquarters, the Commander IRT, DCP Olatunji Disu and the Force Public Relations Officer, CP Frank Mba, said that Police detectives acting on the IGP's order arrested the suspect based on actionable intelligence.
He said that immediately the case of the missing journalist was reported to the Police authorities, the IGP directed officers of the Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) to swing into immediate action. The suspect's movement was traced, and he was arrested within the nation's capital city.
He further said that the suspect who was driving a Toyota Camry car with registration number BWR243BK, knocked down the newspaper reporter at maximum speed at a flyover between Mabushi and Wuse within the capital city. He added that he drove off after the accident.
He also hinted that the middle – aged cab drivers’ car was badly damaged when he knocked down the pedestrian, as his windscreen suffered major damage due to the accident.
He also informed that there was a phone stuck inside the car which the suspect threw away after the incident, adding that some other persons picked it and sold some parts of the phone.
On how the suspect was arrested by the IRT crack detectives, he said that the IRT Commander, DCP Tunji Disu and his officers tracked the phone contacts of the driver after he parked the car with an iPhone 6.
"On the strength of this, detectives moved to the general hospital in the area, and a body that looks like his was on November 11 discovered at Wuse General Hospital”, Mba narrated.
"His family was contacted immediately, and they confirmed that the deceased journalist was the one at the morgue", he added.
The IRT Commander, DCP Olatunji Disu, listed some of the identification items found on the deceased reporter which includes a Keystone Debit Card, Vanguard Newspaper Identity Card, Nigeria Union of Journalists NUJ Identity Card, and National Assembly Temporary Identity Card among others.
The Police spokesman has therefore advised members of the public, particularly motorists, to always report any accident that happens when they are driving at the nearest Police Station to avoid running helter-skelter when the law catches up with them.
The Vanguard deceased reporter was last seen on Wednesday, October 13, 2021, after the close of work at the National Assembly on the fateful day where a colleague dropped him off at a filling station adjacent the Police Force Headquarters.
Salem's disappearance was immediately reported to the Police authorities by the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ and Vanguard Newspapers Limited, his last employer.
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